Medic Symbol
by Verbophobic
Summary: After a Joe dies on the way back from a mission because no one had enough medical training Hawk decides to put a medic on Alpha Team.After a month is up Hawk will decide if the Medic should stay. TEMPORARY HIATUS
1. The Deal

**! I have got such a good Idea for ANOTHER Se/Ave story. (In case you don't know Ave is my oc, short for Avery and this will be my third story) All because of a pair of gloves I got at the mall while hating my friend. Uh check out my other stories: No Names (66ch) and it's sequel No Names 2; Rust Angel; Training Rooms(Se/Ave Lemon), and Uh, Hi? They are all Se/Oc things, I don't do cannon/cannon unless it's within a cannon/Oc story. Well enjoy my third currently working on story. Lol. **

"Joes, I've realized with the death of Cannon that you need a medic on the team that is capable of handling themselves and helping with healing you. I will get you one within the weak, until then think of this as a vacation. Dismissed." Alpha Team filled out of Hawk's office, all except a single ninja man clad in all black. "How may I help you Snake Eyes?" Snake Eyes signed his request to Hawk and quickly and quietly left. "Well that makes this a bit harder. A medic that can fight, defend, heal, and knows sign language. Impossible."

Hawk made his way to the techie room. This was a room where one technician sat for six hours before switching out with another. The main purpose of the room was the monitors that were set up all around. What these monitors had different than the ones in the larger room were the cameras. Cameras that were all throughout the base were seen in this single room. The larger room had too much going on to worry about these cameras. Simple ones that were in the hallways that had nothing special about them, no inferred, no night vision, just simple cameras to make sure the Joes were actual Joes and not bad men. Not like Cobra bad but rapist bad. "General Hawk." Breaker stood at attention when Hawk entered.

"At ease Breaker." Breaker slightly slumped when Hawk said that. "I need to get into the speaker system. I need everyone to hear what I'm about to say. Immediately." Hawk sat down in the extra chair in the room and saw another techie in the room. This was not Breakers shift but he came here often to check up on the system, he may have built it but he feared that something would go wrong so he checked up on it often. The other techie looked like nothing important so Hawk just ignored him.

"Got it sir. And if you don't mind me asking sir, does this have to do with the medic? If so I can contact the other bases and ask for someone of the skills you mentioned." Breaker tried to be of more help. When General Hawk nodded he got right to work. "Hey, boy," The other male Techie stood up tall for Breaker. "Go to locker 148 and get the book for there, here." Breaker tossed the key to his techie locker. The lockers held little nick nacks that the techies wanted like books, snacks, or- as in breakers case- a book about all of the Joe bases. Soon Breaker got the speakers all locked and ready for Hawk. "Here you go sir."

"Joes," Hawks voice was heard in every corridor of the base. "If you have any type of medical training please report to the training room. And if there are any Joes in the training room Clear out. And Snake Eyes please meet the medics in the training rooms I'll be there in several minutes." Hawk nodded to breaker letting him know that he was done. And Breaker immediately started to release all of the speakers to their own separate areas. The speaker system was quite intricate. Each part of the base had separate systems that all connected at one place and only the best of the best hackers could get that connection. "Thank you Breaker, wait until I have finished with these Joes before you contact internationally." Hawk hurried to the training rooms to see what had showed up. Not who but what, as in the skills each individual sported.

Unfortunately for Hawk as soon as he exited the techie room Heavy-Duty stood in his way. Heavy-Duty immediately stood up taller a waited to be allowed to speak. When Hawk gave the go ahead Heavy-Duty spoke. "Cannon was a mistake sir, she wasn't ready to be a Joe. This is no reason to bring all of this chaos into the base. Alpha Team has no need of a medic. That would just be another person we have to watch the back of. It ain't right." Once Heavy-Duty had put his two cents out there he had hopped that Hawk would understand but it seemed the higher up didn't.

"Listen, Heavy, I know you know this team better than anyone else; but having a medic couldn't hurt. Listen I'll make a deal with you." Hawk tried to reason with one of his long time friend. He saw that Heavy-Duty wanted to hear what he had to say. "A month. Give the medic a month, if it doesn't workout then you may kick them off. Yet if any, any at all, of the team thinks they should stay, then the medic stays."

Heavy-Duty thought about this. It was reasonable, it the med died then there wouldn't be another. If the med fucked up somehow then they were off. And if they made it the month then the team could say no, unless they like them enough to keep them on. "Fine, but know that if someone sleeps with the med their vote doesn't count." It would be blasphemy if whoever slept with the med got to say that they stayed while the rest of the team said no.

This made Hawk take a step back. "If someone... sleeps.. with the.. medic?" Hawk just could wrap his mind around this. Why would someone sleep with the medic?

"Scarlet is sleep with Ripcord, and Duke is sleeping with Anna." Heavy-Duty pointed out. "We know that none of those four will but there is still me, Breaker, Snake Eyes, and Stone. If it is a male medic then there will be no problem. A female would be questionable." Heavy-Duty moved out of the way and watched as Hawk walked to the training rooms with a thoughtful look.


	2. Just A Grunt

**Oh shit, how to start this chapter? ….v.v nothing as of yet...V.V still nothing and my 'v's can't get and smaller or bigger, sigh. Ok I got, it's Avery's chapter. If you don't know Avery is my female Oc that I pair with nearly any and everybody.**

Silently she sat in the back of the large crowd of people claiming to be medics. Most of these people had probably never been out in the middle of a battle fighting to save lives. They probably never had to watch friends go out and die while they saved other lives. That was why Avery stopped being a field person. She had lost one too many friends and couldn't handle it. At first the Joes recruited her for her medical training, but once she had made them see that she had given that up they kept her because she was a good fighter too. But now seemed like the time to come back, the time to once again save people rather than kill them.

Avery could hear Hawk talking. He was telling them all why they were here today. She couldn't care less. Hope had left her a long time ago and now she was trying to get it back. "First off, if you don't know any extensive medical training then there is no hope of being able to help Alpha Team, so please leave." Avery saw a few men groan then get up and leave. "Next you must know how to fight, and defend, if not you are better put at use here on the base." A gasp left Avery and her eyes bulged, nearly half of the medics in the training rooms stood up and left. "If you can't fight hand to hand and with weapons please follow your comrades to the exit." There were five people left now including Avery, all guys except her. "One last thing, it doesn't affect if you stay or go, mainly because I can't risk it, but how many of you know sign language?"

No one raised their hand immediately so Avery knew that none of them did and slowly her hand raised. Suddenly the black clad man that had been next to General Hawk was right in front of Avery. He asked her how much she knew. With her hand still in the air she signed with her other hand and spoke at the same time. "I know enough to communicate." Snake Eyes approved of the girl.

"Alright, each of you will have to prove that you are strong enough to be on Alpha Team. Only one of you will be accepted." He seemed to think about what had to be done. "First, Each of you will spar with Snake Eyes. If you can survive five minutes then you can continue on to show off your skills. Alright, you. Get over there." Hawk pointed to biggest of the male medics. His muscles probably mad up half of his weight.

Avery moved over to where the other medics were. Not being able to keep her mouth shut she spoke. "He won't survive a minute. His muscles may be big but he won't be able to dodge, especially with Snake Eyes' speed." Look at the other medic with the corners of her eyes she saw most of them nod. She still had to look up at even the shortest one though, her four feet eleven inches was dwarfed by them all. The eye that they saw looking at them was green.

"Oh." A new voice said. "Down and out." This man avery recognized as Sergeant Stone. He was always fun to have at a mock battle. The little comments and sounds he made were hilarious. A tiny bit distracting but funny all the same. "You, blueberry." He motioned with his head to where Snake Eyes' was. He was referring to the guy that had died his hair blue.

"No." Avery said as soon as the man was in the ring. "First hit he is out, he's too brittle looking. Like his bones will snap like a twin. They may not but first hit he will be too stunned to defend." And just as Avery predicted as soon as Snake Eyes hit the man he wasn't able to defend. "You guys will have a better chance I'm sure." Avery turned fully to look at them and they saw her jade green eye. She could see that the fact her eyes didn't match shocked them.

"Who's next?" Stone was making them chose who would fight next. Avery stepped forward but the man next to her held her back.

"I will, just give me uh moment." He turned to Avery. "Don't take this the wrong way but ah don't think ya will survive one hit. But please, let me know how ya think ah will go down." his accent was obvious.

"Smarts, you got smarts. But in the end that will be what makes you fail against the ninja. He will attack with no pattern and that will make it impossible to follow unless you throw out the want to know what's going on next. I hope you make it." He nodded and went to mat. The last guy looked at her. "You are scared. Don't as long as you think that you can it just might be possible, your fear will distract you and he will get you. Good luck." The two watched the fight. The man that had asked for help was what one would call a ginger. Scottish or Irish defiantly, he had muscle but not too much that he couldn't move. He was able to take hits and get back up.

Avery was able to see every time that he had tried to guess where Snake Eyes was going to hit. She had warned him about that but the fear she saw told her why he ignored her warning. Yelling out to him she told him once more. "Stop fucking thinking! Your trying to read him, stop it. And above you!" The ginger jumped back in time. Then he took her advice and stopped trying to read Snake Eyes. At the end of his five minutes he went back to the two that were standing on the mats. He slapped Avery on the back in thanks and sat on the mat breathing heavily. Immediately she made him stand up. "Walk until your breath is back to normal, just stopping is not good. Your muscles will cramp up and you will be in pain." He did as she said.

The scared guy had no more fear because once he saw that Avery's advice had helped the bigger man he was sure it would help himself. And it did at the moments fear had come back Snake Eyes had got him but as soon as he pushed the fear away he got his footing back and made it the entire five minutes. "You sure you want to shrimp?" Stone asked her and she nodded. "Your funeral."

Avery got in the ring and stood up strait. As soon as Snake Eyes recognized what she was doing he too stood up straight. "Avery Godfrey. No position or ranking, just a grunt." Snake Eyes replied in kind.

**Snake Eyes. Lieutenant. Good luck.** And then he bowed. Avery returned the guesture and the fight started.


	3. What About Our Other Three Minutes?

**Why hello again people. This is the fight that I left off in at the end of the last one you were probably like NUUUUUUUUUU! T.T sad face. I want the fight. Well here it is. And I was too psyched for this battle to concentrate on any of the other stories. Lol OMG COUNTRY MUSIC MADE ME LOSE MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT!**

Snake eyes was the first to attack he was hoping to finish the fight quickly. At first he had hopped that the girl would be able to make it but once he saw how tall she really was he was afraid that she could be seriously injured while with Alpha Team. Now this match was different than the others, those had been to see how well they could fight. But this one he was going to go all to make sure she didn't make it only because he had an odd felling in his stomach when he thought of her getting hurt. He had never felt this way about anyone so he had to make sure she didn't make it. His first attach was supposed to get her.

But either he missed or she dodged, he didn't have a chance to think about it because she went into offense. None of the other people had attacked, they all had just tried to continue on but this girl, Avery, was about to attack. Her fist shot out and he dodged just in time. She wasn't going to go down easily. Snake Eyes kicked at her and he had though he had hit her because he felt a pressure on his leg but then he realized that the pressure was _on_ his leg. There Avery was, perfectly balanced and squatting on his still raised leg. She went to kick him and an inch from his face her foot stopped. He heard her cursing then quickly got out of the way. "Damn it." He wondered why she hadn't hit him then when he heard the laughter from Stone he understood. Avery would have kicked him in the face if she could have but her leg was just an inch too short to reach.

Then she attacked again. She jumped up and kicked him with her right leg, he blocked it with his right arm then grabbed hold of it with his left hand. Quickly she went to punch him with her left fist and he caught it in in his right hand. Flipping her body upside down her left leg nearly nailed him but lifting his right arm he blocked her kick with his forearm. She smirked at him upside down and he realized that he had no way of defending himself against her next attack. Avery's hand flew forward and grabbed the hem of his shirt, the body armor, then she stretched it back and let go. The sting of the on his stomach made him drop her. When she landed a laugh escaped her. "I didn't think you'd fall for that." She laughed again and stone called time. "Aw come on what about our last three minutes?"

Stone laughed and spoke to her. "No need, if you could land a hit on Snake Eyes you can go on." Stone had to hid his smirk behind a cough when Snake Eyes hissed. He signed to Stone saying what Avery wanted to. "She did land a hit on you, I say it. There on your shoulder." Snake Eyes had no idea what Stone was talking about. But it seemed that Avery did.

"I didn't think anyone saw that." She was still laying on the ground where she fell. A confused look was on her face, that then turned to thoughtful. And finally that turned into a grin. "Hey, Stone, wanna have a go? I could use a bit more of an exercise."

"Aw hell no. The only reason I noticed was because when he blocked your second kick the slit in his shirt was seeable."Stone explained to Avery. "How about we move on? Shooting, right Hawk?" Avery had completely forgotten about the general. And now that he was pointed out Avery took the time to look at him. This wasn't the first time she had seen him but this is the first time she looked at him. He looked older than he seemed. But still young, just older than she thought and he was staring at her so she waved at him. She felt odd under his scrutiny, like he was trying to see somebody else in her. And she knew exactly who he was looking for. He had no idea who she truly was, didn't know that his sperm had gave life to an egg in her mother.

Before she could think any more about that the ginger reached down and picked her up. "Ah can't believe ya did it! This is cool-" He was cut off by her whimpered ow. "What's the matter?" She didn't answer but when he put her down she lifted up her shirt and he could see a large bruise that had formed on her abdomen. It was large and looked like a staff had been whacked fully across her. "Och. What happened?" Avery shook her head but when Snake Eyes signed to her she decided to tell what happened.

"No, it wasn't this fight. Earlier today my higher up said that the floor hadn't been polished correctly and said that I had to be punished for not doing it right. I didn't think it had been this bad." Avery had said this like it was a normal thing. It was as if this happened on a normal basis for her. What the guys didn't know was that was true. Her higher up had it out for her because of a 'no' that had been given. And when he tried to forsake her request to leave her alone she had forced him to stop trying to get it on with her. The penalty for that was unjust beatings and stupid chores. Avery really didn't care because it didn't affect her, on the inside she felt dead and most of the time her wounds didn't get in the way. "So what are we shooting at? Dummies or those ones that when you miss and they hit you you get shocked?"

"The shocking ones. Do I know you from somewhere besides here?" Hawk asked. Avery shook her head in truth he had never met her except when his seed took root in her mothers womb. Maybe a week after that too but not since she took a screaming breath of hospital air. "Hmm, I wonder."


	4. Give Me A Ch Title Suggustion

**This is just really random but I'd like to thank YohMuffy for supporting all three of my ongoing stories. And for reviewing them all. If you ever want a shout out let me know Or if you have a story you want me to read let me know. I'll even put a shout out for the story if I like it that much but please don't take offense if I don't do a shout out, it isn't necessarily that it isn't good but it might not be my taste. Like how some people love white chocolate while others like dark and even more like milk? There are stories that aren't my taste. (Rape is no no) Enjoy chapter whatever this is ;) IF YOU HAVE READ THIS STORY, READ FROM THE BOLDED PART HALF WAY DOWN!**

Following behind everyone to where the shooting practice would be was Avery. Then once this was over they were headed to Doc.'s office. Avery winced at that though, the Doc didn't appreciate Avery that much. Only because Avery has been sent there so many times but still. Her thoughts were interrupted when the scared guy went up to shooting. He was done nearly immediately. The man was an amazing shot but he couldn't _not_ get shot. When the ginger got shot he was half way though course and Hawk said that he would go onto the next half. "Avery is it?" Hawk asked and she nodded. "You seem just so familiar. Anyway it's your turn get going."

Avery didn't want to show off nor did she want to not make it. So she made sure to get several more guys than the ginger did before she allowed her self to get shot. It was a shock. The electrical charge that went through her felt like nothing. "Huh?" She said then another hit her, it was no more than the first but then a third and fourth came. She went to her knees at the fifth hit but with the six and seventh she gritted her teeth to keep from going all the way down. She saw where the eight was going to come from and hit the guy then she turned and hit the next and the next. When that guy disappeared she turned fully around looking for the next then she rolled out of the way when she realized it was going to come from any direction around her. From right above her was the guy and she shot him. Standing another shock hit her.

She shot it and ran. When she saw another guy she shot him with out stopping or aiming. Without looking she shot the guy behind her and jumped out of the area. As soon as she was out she saw an Alpha Team member working vigorously on the computer. "Hurry up and get the virus before she gets shocked to death!" Hawk hissed at him.

**IF YOU HAVE READ THIS STORY FOR GET WHAT HAS HAPPEND SINCE THIS CHAPTER! START HERE!**

Avery sat on the floor and saw that the screen above still showed her getting hit. "Hawk," Avery said. When he hissed at her to shut up she laid down and did as told. And laying on the cool floor she spaced out. The icy chill of the concrete felt nice against her electrified body and her eyes dropped dangerously. She knew that sleeping wasn't her priority for this minute but for some odd reason she wanted. Forcing her open she stared at the ceiling and without realizing it her eyes closed again. A yell awoke her and she forced her eyes open again.

"Cobra. It was cobra that put this bug in there. And...wait...where is Avery?" The screen above showed her still getting shot but when a black and white flashed in the middle of it she realized that it was looping. "Hawk I can't find her!" Avery didn't have the strength to get up so she gave a whistle and lifted her hand. "When did you get out?" A new face appeared above her along with all of the faces she had seen before.

"Uh, when General Hawk told me to 'shut the fuck up, we are in a dire situation. Get me later.' That was when. Yeah, that's what he said." Avery let her hand fall and looked at all of the guys. "Wow, I'm way out numbered. What is is this uh..." She counted all of the people standing around her. "Six guys to one female. Yeah. Out numbered for sure." And her eyes closed of their own accord. She continued to mumble. It was all bull shit that she spat out after that. Well not bull shit per say but she was sleep talking and it was all about the effects of being electrocuted. Then once she finished stating all the different stages she started back to stage one and gave off all of the effect and affects. And continued up until she got to the last one. "We could just say that that bitch would be barbecued like a fish in the middle of summer on a beach trip. And that would be funny looking. To see a person turned into a fish..."

"Do you know anything about this?" Hawk asked the red head. He waited a moment while the man thought. Hawk had made his decision but wanted to give the man a fair chance. It wouldn't be right to take a sleeping woman's ramblings to heart. The girl may have seemed quite familiar but it didn't matter at this moment. What mattered was if what this girl said in _sleep_ was what this guy had to _think_ _hard_ about.

Sighing the red head looked to the ceiling. "I guess I don't get the position. She has said all I know about electrocutions and oh so much more. She has even simplified it enough that anyone can understand what's going on and trust her enough to let her help them. Like if I were to talk to a patient about this they wouldn't understand a word I say and if I tried to make it sound simpler it would make me look like a fool that doesn't fully know what's going on. Yet her," He sighed again. "If only I could be that comical and correct." Hawk made his decision with the words of the red head.

"Boys," Hawk looked to Snake Eyes and Breaker. "Meet your new medic." He motioned to the sleeping girl. "Snake Eyes, take her to your room for now. Then we could get her situated in her own room with all of her stuff." Standing up Hawk looked to Breaker. "And find out everything about her past." Taking a deep breath Hawk revealed a part of himself as he said this last thing. "Also, search a Sara Jensen."

Snake Eyes and Breaker watched as Hawk walked off. As soon as the door closed the two snapped into action Breaker raced off to his room to do the research asked for and Snake Eyes lifted Avery up in his arms and headed for his room. She was so light that he thought it couldn't be healthy, yet she was a medic and would know about taking care of her body. Her body was jostled and he opened his door and her arm fell and hung in what looked to be an odd and possible painful position. But that wasn't what caught his eye. Avery had a simple bead bracelet on her wrist and it made him think of something a child might make for their mother and he wondered if Avery was a mother or if she had a lover. Quickly he snapped out of his thoughts and entered his room. Hopefully Breaker would get all the information needed on her soon.


	5. Second Degree Burns, How To Fix

**I was crying as I deleted all of the chapters 5-9 and half of four but avery will no longer be a Mary Sue. I hope. And the answers about her family will be answered in this chapter. **

Snake Eyes watched Avery sleep for several minutes before going to the little kitchen in his room and turning a kettle of tea on. He crushed up some ingredients that he used in it and made his own special tea. Long ago he had found that these certain ingredients helped calm him and made any pain he had felt leave. As he put it all in a filter and put the filter in the warming water a nock sounded on his door. When he opened it he saw breaker standing there. "I just need a sample of her DNA. A hair or something of the like." Breaker entered and plucked a hair or two from Avery's head. "Thank you." And quickly the technician left.

It made Snake Eyes wonder what he had needed her DNA for but he didn't mind much. He moved his arms and realized that he felt dirty. His suit had retained all of his sweat as he had fought the five and it felt disgusting. Going into his dresser he pulled out more comfortable clothing. They were simple clothes, a pair of black sweats and a long sleeve shirt. Both were black. And he went into the bathroom, completely forgetting about the tea. He was finished washing his hair and body when he heard it. The whistle of the tea he had forgotten. As fast as he could he got out of the shower and dried off enough to be able to get dressed. The tea would be over done by the time he was dressed enough to go out there and rescue it. Not to mention the danger leaving something like that on the tiny stove for too long. He had finally gotten his boxers, socks, pants and shoes on when the tea's whistle stopped. Pulling his cloth mask on he exited the bathroom to see what had happened.

He heard the water from the sink running and cruses. Looking at the tea he saw that it had been moved and put onto a cool burner. Then when he looked to the sink he saw Avery wincing and forcing her right hand under running water. He knew what had happened now. And when he looked for the cloth that he normally used for the tea he didn't see it and knew why Avery had took the tea off the burner with her bare hand. He reentered the bathroom and grabbed a first aid kit from under the sink. When he got back to the kitchen Avery still had her hand under the water and now her head was resting on the counter. "You fool!" She hissed as soon as she realized he was there. Visibly he winced to let her know that he understood what was the matter. "And you don't even have a cloth anywhere in the open." Her breaths sounded labored and he knew that she was in severe pain but he didn't know much about burns. Battle wounds he had a good enough idea that would help the person survive, but not simple menial things like this.

"It's a second degree but not too serious." Avery told him then continued in a lower voice. "It is minor enough to be treated as a minor burn. Run cool water, not cold, over it for fifteen to twenty minutes or until the pain subsides. "He watched and listened. It took him a moment to realize that she was reciting the same part over and over trying to distract her mind from the pain. As soon as she stood up and turned the water off she lightly patted her hand dry on the leg of her pants. Her hand had blistered and was quite red. Continuing she grabbed the first aid kit then spoke louder for him to hear. "A gauze bandage, not fluffy cotton or material that may leave lint in the wound. Loosely put it on so that there is no pressure." She held out her hand to him and showed him how to wrap a burn. "Like so. It prevents the air from hitting the wound. It also reduces the pain and protects the blistered area." When he nodded she handed him the kit then asked. "Where do you normally keep this kit?" He pointed to the sink then the bathroom. "Good. Get another for the kitchen too. It would help to keep one in the main areas where someone may get hurt."

Avery cradled her hand against her chest then sat at the table. "Well, that was one hell of a wake up call." A small laugh left her and she smiled at him. "I'm sorry I called you a fool, it's just when I see something stupid, like that, done well you don't know how many lives could be lost if something like that were to catch fire. Any way, we going to have some tea or not?" Quickly he got her a cup of tea. He checked to make sure that it wasn't over done and was glad to see that it was just perfect. Watching her take a sip he wondered how she would react to it. "Hm, nice blend of herbs. And tastes good too." She grinned up at him. "So what happened after I fell asleep?" He put it as simply as possible. "Oh. I had forgotten about that. I talked in my sleep about certain things that I had witnesses when I was a field medic. Like a guy that had lost a leg, not long after he had arrived I had passed out and spoke of everything had to been done and what would happened if not done right and the different stages of gangrene, nasty thing really. They had said my ramblings and a young idiotic doctor that had listened to me saved the mans life. It was what we call wet gangrene. But that isn't the point. Anything else happen?"

He nodded and let her know the good news. "Oh. So I made it? How? I passed out and didn't even show any knowledge of medicines." Snake Eyes informed her of how much better in the shooting and how much better she took the shots. Then he let her know that the red head had confirmed her ramblings. "Ah. So what next?" There was a knock against on the door and Snake Eyes answered it. Without a second though Breaker said quite loudly what he had found.

"She's General Hawks bastard child!" He hadn't noticed that Avery was up until she spoke.

"Oh, so you know."


	6. A Bit About My Past

**Ok to be truthful I like this version better than before. Please let me know what you think. **

Avery was standing in next to Snake Eyes as all of Alpha team and General Hawk entered. Snake Eyes had put a shirt on as Avery finished her tea then the two left together and ended up here. "You sure you want to be here?" Breaker asked. "We're about to speak of you as if all you are is a piece of bacon." He warned her and tried to make her leave because he didn't want to offend her.

"I'm fine and it's meat." She told him and tried to get him to fix the proverb. But it ended up backfiring when he said 'meat of bacon. "Actually, uh Breaker was it?" He nodded and she committed his name to memory. "It's piece of meat. Not bacon. Like how a butcher-"

"Let's get started shall we?" Hawk interrupted. And breaker nodded. He typed something onto a little device and a picture of her when she was younger showed up in front of her. No not a picture. A video, and she knew this one well. She grabbed the device from breaker.

"How about I just tell you about me and my past. This video is not needed." She held the device just out of Breakers reach. And she had been so focused on the french guy that she hadn't notice Snake Eyes until it was too late. He grabbed the device and hit play. In front of them a little boy started to run, this was how the video started. There was no audio and for the she was glad for. "That kid is Jhonny. He died a year back in a war. Not a bad kid really." Then a man came into the picture. He looked to be drunk and staggering. Avery had been six at the time and had seen way too many ER shows. Briefly they could she her in the video sitting at the picnic table drawing with a pen that would play an important part in this little story. "Pause it a second." Snake Eyes did and she explained a few things. "That's me at the table, six years. The camera person is Jhonny's mother, and the drunkard is his father. No one else matters except in the end the woman rushing me away is my mother, Sara. I was stupid and wanted to be a hero at six. And I watched to many medical shows too. That is all that matters in this video. Play it."

It was obvious in the movie that the man was arguing with the woman and Jhonny jut happened to be too close. His father went to swing at his mother and when he whipped his hand back he hit Jhonny in the throat. Everyone was sure about what had happened, the boys airways had to have been crushed by the big and beefy hand that had hit him. The camera fell and faced the sufficating boy. It was also obvious that none of the adults had noticed. Then a mall child feet appeared next to Jhonny and someone kneeled next to him. It was Avery and she spoke to him. He clung to her, tears forming in his eyes. She unscrewed the pen and Snake Eyes paused it just as a hand of hers felt his throat. If she was about to kill the kid by truing to be the hero they didn't need to see it. "Play it Snake Eyes. You'll forever wonder what had happened if you don't."

And he played it. Avery's tiny searching hand finally stopped and she looked at the boy one more time. "I had told him that if I didn't do it right that I was sorry." Avery let them know. Then in the video she stabbed the pen into his neck. Jhonny's back arched and his chest started to rise and fall again. The six year old her had just successfully did a life saving move. It is used on battle fields and is known as battle field tracheotomy. Just then Avery took Jhonny's hand and made him hold the pen in place. Suddenly Avery's mother grabbed her and started to drag her away. There was fear in Avery's mothers eyes as she did that. "Only our two families knew that that I had did that. And Jack, the doctor. Needless to say after that my mother took all pens away from me and kept me from anything with a point. I learned what I had needed from the Tv then went to college for it. Odd enough I actually passed. And then I was sent into battle."

"Your life disappears after this until you are sixteen. When you went to college. And after you flew by everyone and then you dropped out just before you could graduate, then you went immediately out to war zones." Breaker said and got the remote from Snake Eyes. Hitting another button pictures of her in battles healing people showed up. And the last one to show up was one of her fist pictures from the war. "What is this picture? It is the only one when you are with your whole unit and not with the medic sign?" Her unit had all gathered around and her captain had his only arm, the left one, around her neck pulling he down a bit. Avery was looking up at the man in wonder. He was only two years older than her at the time and he had been about to die days before yet in the picture he was grinning and fooling around. She hadn't understood what was with him. He had his chin lifted up high and you could see a faint scar where his throat had been punctured.

The man was definitely a looker. His brown hair was not normally allowed to be styled ad so but he was such a man that the higher ups let it go because all of his men listened to him and did as told. He had on a french barrette as a hat and it had the number '69' on it. IT was obvious he was tall even as he kneeled down in the mud. And his grin showed many strait white teeth. "That is Jhonny. He was twenty then. A grenade had went off to close to him. Everyone had taken priority over him and he had been left to suffer. I stayed by his side the whole time and when they got to him they told me that there was nothing that they could do." Anger entered her voice. "Those fuckers had left him for dead. And I sat down in shock. The only reason that he survived was because he looked me in the eyes and said 'I trust you.' I had never graduated because I decided that I didn't want to work on people, yet here Jhonny was telling me to do what I thought right."

They all watched her as tears pricked her eyes. "I stole much of their supplies, but enough to Save Jhonny. A few guy from our unit were outside and carried him to his tent. In there I removed the stub that was left of his arm and did what was necessary to keep him alive. I was only a grunt like everyone else. No one knew of my medical skills, not eve Jhonny. But I had saved him when we were kids and he had asked me to do it again. In a subtle way of course. And I did what those doctors said wasn't possible. I saved my friend. That had been only days before this picture. And not long after I was made the medic of '69'. We became known as that because of his hat.

"I quite being a Medic and went back to grunt work when Jhonny died. And only now have I started with medicines again. Anything else?" She looked to Breaker who shook his head.

"Next is Sara Jensen. Avery's mother. The only thing that is significant-" He stopped as Avery had her fingers touching a part of his neck and he realized what he had done wrong. "The only thing we need to know about her..." He paused and after a moment Avery moved away. "Is that she is Avery's mother and the sperm that had taken root in her is..." He wasn't sure how to saw what was next.

"It was General Hawk's sperm. H had been with my mother for a month then got called off to duty where he was then recruited here and broke it off with my mother. She hadn't told him and decided not to until she could tell it to his face. But that never happened and now my mother is in a mental hospital. A paranoid schizophrenic. Now, are we done here?" Avery was getting irritated.

"Dismissed!" Hawk said to the rest of Alpha Team. "May I talk to Avery? And what in gods name happened to your hand?" He had only now noticed that bandages around her her hand.

"Do I have a choice." It was a statement and not a question. "And I fell. It is a simple sprain. It won't affect me much, I'm left handed mainly but can use both hands."


	7. I Trust Snake Eyes

**Chawmpy-bot has requested a shout out. And last night I want to her profile and read a story of hers, a one-shot to be exact, and if you like Naruto's Kiba I suggest reading it. Also I haven't had a chance to give her much personality, a bit of it showed in ch6 (The ch after you reviewed) and she will be a bit more defined as soon as this chapter is done,...i think ;) I am glad you like it. LMAO Listen to the song 'Goodbye Earl' by the Dixi Chicks. It's got nothing to do with the story but lol yeah. Oh and FYI the poll is up. You can either vote now or later. **

It was hours again before Snake Eyes saw Avery and he could help but to wonder why she hadn't told Hawk the truth. He wanted to know why she hadn't told their higher up about his stupidity. And because she hadn't told Hawk what had truthfully happened she looked like a clumsy idiot. For now Snake Eyes watched her, she wasn't moving or anything. Avery was just squatting there. He heard her sigh and he wondered what was the matter. There was no way that he was going to go out there and ask her because he wanted to figure out why she had done what she had, and he- "Are you just going to stay there all day or come out Snake Eyes?"

Avery had know that Snake Eyes was over there watching her ever since he got there. When he neither came out nor made any sound she sighed and looked back down. It was these ants that had originally alerted her to Snake Eyes presence. They had been all over where he was and soon they had came scurrying this way it had taken her several minutes to figure out that it was Snake Eyes, actually she still wasn't sure. Just as she was about to speak out to him someone else entered and her eyes grew cold and hard. "Why hello Webster. Can I help you with something?" Her tone was hollow, like she had nothing in her. She sounded just like she had someone close die and was trying to cover her hurt and pain.

"Yes, there is." Webster said in his horribly smooth tone. It was obvious how he got in. He was a pure blood italian and a mobsters son. He had to have lied and said that he was disgusted by his father, yet Avery knew how alike the two were. They even looked alike, well when his father hadn't been a fat old slob. His black hair was slicked back and looked thin. He was tall, some where nearing seven feet, and thin. Webster's thinness was what had him staying where he was, he used it to make himself look weak and stay out of the fight. And then as soon as people turned their back and tried to protect him they had a dagger shoved in their back, or more like the started to look like swiss cheese all filled with holes. "I want you to decline being accepted on Alpha Team. Then I will go and try for it. All that you need to do is feed me all the medical information when it is needed."

"How about no? I'm tired of bending to your will. No longer am I under you and you have no power over me. Just go away and continue to abuse your other lackeys." Avery finally told her used to be higher up off. She had wanted to do that for the past year but it hadn't mattered then. Back then she had hated the abuse but had no other place to turn to. Now she did. She was officially part of Alpha team as of the meeting with Hawk. He hadn't wanted much, just to let her know about the fact she was indeed in and then he wanted to know about Sara. Avery was in thought about the meeting and hadn't seen Webster grab and electrified staff. But somewhere in her mind alarms were going off and she jump.

Just jumped. She was still in thought as she ducked and dodged. It was as if instinct had taken over. And when she came to he senses Webster had his gun cocked and pointed at her. "Now, let me try this again. Quit Alpha Team and give me all the information I need." Avery sighed and Squatted down again. To Webster it looked like she was giving up but in truth she was thinking. Trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation quickly. She saw a shadow moving out of the corner of her eyes and knew that Snake Eyes was moving.

"Webster, you never think things through do you?" Avery distracted the man for just long enough and grabbed a stone. "Guns can't be relied on in every situation you know, nor can bullying. Lets say I need to _see_ the ailment to give you the cure then what are you to do? Or lets say I do this?" The stone was thrown so fast that Webster never saw it but when it ebbed itself in between his wrist joint he hollered and dropped the gun. "I think I shall say that that is a sprained wrist nothing to worry about. Al though if that stone isn't removed you could get gangrene. But hey I'm not going to tell that to the person threatening me now am I?" Avery was now taunting Webster. He turned the shock in the staff on and swung wildly with it in his left hand.

She dodged it every time then was in his face. Pulling back her right hand she punched him. The force she had put into the single hit knocked him backwards and he fell. "When the hell did you get like this?" He hissed at her. Hawk walked in just then and Webster smirked before crying out. "No! Avery please don't I beg you! Don't hurt me anymore! Please. Please, no." Webster started to beg and Avery looked at him shocked.

"Webster?" Hawk asked the man on the floor. As soon as Avery heard Hawk she understood Webster's plan. Here she was without a scratch on her and there Webster was, bleeding from his wrist that had a stone in it, on the floor holding his nose and begging her to not hurt him any more. Now she looked like the bad guy and him the poor innocent caught up in her beating.

"General! Oh general thank God you are here. This woman, and underling of mine, has decided that now that she has a chance of going up the ladder to take me out of the way. Please general you must stop her." When Webster saw Hawk looking at Avery in shock Webster shot her a smirk. He had indeed just won this battle and there was no way she could defend herself and it not be taken as a lie. Avery had forsaken doing what was right a long time ago and just took what she had to.

"I accept any punishment you give me General Hawk. But I must say, this is not what it looks like." Avery stood as tall as she could and her eyes never wavered. All emotion was hidden from the world. But if one looked closely they would see little swirls in their depths. Just as Hawk was about to yell at her in anger he stopped and put a hand to his ear. Snake Eyes stood behind hawk typing something into the mettle device on his arm.

"Really?" Hawk asked and turned around to see Snake Eyes nod. "Well, Avery. The only thing you are to do is go with Snake Eyes and move your belonging to the room across from him. That is your new room since you were already told that you are accepted into Alpha Team. And as for you, Webster, I don't appreciate lies being spit about my daughter. There are several flaws to your story. One being that the eye witness to all of this never lies." Avery walked with Snake Eyes out into the hall before she could hear the rest.

"You didn't need to do that Snake Eyes. I would have taken the punishment. There is no need to make it look like you too had something to do with this." She watched him form angry signs. "I was the one to hurt him. He had not laid a finger on me." He took his gun out and held it to her head and pointed at it then her. It wasn't sign language but she understood. "And if I was to attack you right here I would be the one to get in trouble. That is how it always has been. I would rather take the swift punishment than prolong it because of some stupid prideful thing. It is always harsher if you try to defend yourself." Snake Eyes put the gun away and gave her a curious look.

"I learned that lesson not long after arriving." She lifted her shit enough to show him her back. "That was because I defended myself. When I stopped the punishments were less harsh. There was a scar on her back from her first punishment. It stretched all the way from her right shoulder to her left hip. Luckily she had been able to take care of her self enough that it was just a pink line on her back. "Shall we start moving me or not?"

The two were standing outside of her old room door and she waited for him to nod before opening the door. There was no need to see the look on his face to know that he was shocked. One thing about G.I. Joe was that the Joes were allowed to do anything with their room. Make it their own. It was for physiological reasons. Because everyone was different and being in a place like the 'Pit' as it was called, although Avery always called it the Base, could do some harm to the mind if left like that for prolonged amounts of time. But it wasn't what one would have expected of Avery's room. They would have expected to see something about her in there. Only thing was Avery's room was empty. There was a single duffle bag with a blanket over it in the corner. No bed, no chairs, no table, no nothing. "Another punishment was that all the furniture was taken. And that was for defending myself against Webster. Literally defending myself." She walked over and grabbed her bag and blanket. Then tenderly she reached down and grabbed one last thing. "They almost took this too. I put three people in the intensive care and another two were sick for days with a poison. The poison was an accident but still I took out five people trying to get this back. When the man left had realized just what I would do to keep this he gave it back and settled for giving a beating. I took it gladly."

She handed it the picture to Snake Eyes and headed out. By doing that she had showed him that she trusts him with what she held higher than her own well being.


	8. My Eyes

**Boo! The only reason that my other stories aren't being updated is because I want to get this caught up in chapters first so that they all are able to be updated on a timely type of thing...and I have an OCD. And they all have to be at the same #... . . I mean who? ;) enjoy. Remember to vote and if you want a shout out for any certain story of to have a shout out for you, let me know. Oh, and I am make love to a candy cane with my mouth ;) So yummy lol.**

Avery walked side by side with Snake Eyes, she may have trusted him to cary the picture but she kept looking at it to make sure he still had it. It meant a lot to her. She had been around ten, several days after the picture was taken she would be turning so, and the boy in it was twelve. The woman was about twenty-six, she had been real young when her and a twenty year old Hawk had been together. Sara, Avery's mother, had been sixteen at the time, close to seventeen, and at seventeen when Hawk had to leave. But in the picture the twenty-six year old Sara was laughing at Avery and the boy, Jhonny. Jhonny was laying on his back and laughing hard with his hand up to defend his face. He had even been hansom at that young age. His big green eyes held so much life in them that they sparkled and would draw girls in, in a way that a light draws moths at night. His brown hair was shoulder length and had a sheen to it. And his perfect white teeth showed as he howled in laughter. He had on dark blue jeans and the normal Converses, his shirt was a navy blue. And on his pinky he had a blue ring that looked like it came out of a twenty-five cent machine.

Avery on the other hand had an extremely anger look on her face. She had on clothes close to Jhonny's. Her dark blue jeans blended in with his as she straddled the obviously stronger boy. That wasn't the way it would be thought to, a girl straddling a boy was thought to be sexual. But Avery's left hand at Jhonny's throat and her right fist raised, ready to deliver a blow, told another story. Avery too had on a blue shirt but it was a baby blue and not navy. And she had the same Converses as Jhonny on. Her orange hair was long, unlike the shortness it currently was or the the slightly longer than shoulder length of her army picture, and tied up in a high ponytail. Even as high up as it had to have been it cascaded down her back and stopped inches above the waistband of her pants. The green eyes of Avery's was able to bee seen in the picture. And upon a closer look one would see a blue ribbon in her back pocket.

And Sara was standing up strait, an arm wrapped around her midsection and a hand covering her mouth. Sara had black hair that was about chest length, not that Snake Eyes was looking, and dark green eyes. Her shirt was green and she had on light blue jeans. She looked nothing like Avery and Snake Eyes wondered where that Avery got her looks. But then he also wondered why Sara was laughing so hard and who was holding the camera. And what had gotten Avery so angry. Why had Jhonny been laughing when Avery was so evidently about to hit him. Snake Eyes proceeded to ask Avery this. "I'll tell you the full story behind that picture when we get to my room. Then I can put this in there. Better yet, after I drop this off, we can go over to your room for some of that wonderful tea?" She looked at him, hope was in her eyes, but she easily covered it up. Yet Snake Eyes was close enough to her to be able to see that little pool in her eyes that was always there, and in it he saw that she wanted to go to his room for tea. And he nodded.

Inside his stomach clenched and he felt like it was fluttering. He had always craved human companionship, maybe not love but someone that would be there for him as he would be there for them. And he saw this in Avery. She had been given so much and forced to loose it that she too craved what he did. Even if they only became friends he wouldn't mind. Yeah he and Scarlet were friends but there was this little barricade between them. She only used him and left. It was unknowing because he wanted someone to ask and not just push it on them. Scarlet would come to him and tell him her problems, drink a bit of tea, get his advice, and then she would leave. And now Snake Eyes hoped that Avery would be different. In his heart he wanted her to care, hell he wanted anyone to care but he would rather it be her. He didn't know why he wanted it to be this tiny orange haired girl but he did.

And now they were at their destination. Avery opened the door and looked around. Snake Eyes didn't look at her face to see what she had thought of it but her eyes. Originally this had been designed for Cannon and the man had had a love for japanese things so it was made like a the interior of some of the older Japanese houses. In Avery's eyes he saw awe. She stepped forward and realized that there was a step up then he saw her thinking. She looked for the bed and he saw her fingers moving, almost as if he was counting. Then her eyes hardened and she nodded. And it looked like she was testing the weight of the bag. Once she finished that her fingers started to twitch again. "Got it." Stepping back two carefully placed steps she threw her bag and it landed perfectly on the bed. "You aren't supposed to walk in here with shoes, right?" Snake Eyes was shocked and nodded. "I used to read too much manga and watch too much anime. They always removed their shoes as a sign of uh respect right?" Once more he nodded. "Then I shall respect that and do the same, but right now we have a different room to go to."

There was hope in her eyes again and fear. It took him a moment to realize that she feared he had decided otherwise. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards his room. And he couldn't help but marvel at how perfect her small hand felt within his larger one. And then he was at his door and he opened it and let her in. He lead her to the table, the one that she had showed him how to wrap a burn at, and had her sit down. Quickly he put the pot of water on and got to work crushing the ingredients and putting them into the filter and finally putting the filter into the pot. "Ah. That's an interesting mix. Any way, the picture. You probably guessed who everyone was, right?" And Snake Eyes nodded. He got up and grabbed a cloth out of a cabinet and signed to her in a joking manner. He got what he wanted from her, a laugh. "Yes, we don't want any more burns. It should be good in a week or two.

"You must know before I start to explain this story a few things. Jhonny's mother had recently committed suicide, his parents had broken up not long before that, and my mother had unofficially adapted him. I am almost ten, he is twelve and my mothers age doesn't matter. That is all I think. Shall I go on?" Snake Eyes nodded eagerly as he searched through a drawer in the other room. "Then sit your ass down and listen." He held up a finger then found what he was looking for. With his back to her he removed the hard visor and his dirty blond hair fell limply around his head. Then in one swift movement it was covered again with a cloth mask. As soon as he sat down Avery continued. "We were at the park that day and had been just walking around. Then Jhonny got the smart idea to make fun of everything. He always did that, made fun of everything. It was his way of coping and when he was serious I hated it. He wasn't Jhonny in my eyes when he was that way. And right here, in that spot in the park, He stopped all of us." Avery had pointed to the picture to let him know that she had given all the need background. Snake Eyes was eager to know what was going on when the tea started to whistle he glared at it. Avery nodded to the tea and continued her as he dealt with it. And he was glad that she kept talking.


	9. The Picture

**Still making love to the candy cane lol. I WISH I HADN'T MADE JHONNY DIE! T.T He would have been an awesome brother...i might just make another fanfic where he is alive... Don't give me that look, I'm like a heroin addict except this is my addiction- Se/Ave fanfics...**

"Getting down on one knee Jhonny pulled out a fake ring from his pocket, if you hadn't noticed he has a ring on his pinky in the picture and it's that one. He had said _'Avery, will you do the honor of marrying me?'_ I had just looked at him and then became angry. Asking if he was serious- thank you Snake Eyes- and my answer was a smile and a nod from him." In the middle of her sentence Snake Eyes had handed her a cup of tea. "He knew that I didn't like any type of marriage. So I had pushed him to the ground and threatened to beat him up. _'Now why would you do that Ave? Don't you like me?'_ he had asked me. I knew he had been taunting me and I fell right into it. My mother had been laughing and when I sent her a glare she had covered her mouth to hide it. And looking at him I had wrapped a hand around his throat and raised the other. He just continued to laugh and covered his face. There was a photographer student behind us and she snapped the photo.

"My mother had started to talk to her and I was still on Jhonny. _'You know what marriage does to a family. Look at what happened to your mother. Look at my mother. I don't want that to happen to us.'_ I had told him and he laughed at me still. He raised his pinky up and had said, _'You didn't answer me? Will you?'_ I punched him then, right in the eye. And he laughed. I took took the ring and told him no. _'Well then why did you take the ring?'_ He had continued to laugh as I stood up and helped him up.

"I thought of how I had truly felt and answered him. _'Because I love you. As a brother and I want to remember you when we are apart.'_ Jhonny laughed again at me after that and said that was good enough. He said that as long as we would always be together in some way was fine and that had been his reason for asking. And my mother had gotten the students number so that when she got the prints we could each have one. When Jhonny died I had mine on me and buried it with him. This one was his originally. That's why it means so much to me." Avery finished her story and told him more about the picture itself. Reaching a hand out she motioned to the picture. "He had said to me that when one of us got married we would exchange pictures. And we each had written a not on the back. Mine had said that I loved him and would beat the girl to a bloody pulp if she hurt him."

Removing the picture carefully Avery handed it to Snake Eyes. In beautiful and elegant cursive was a note. _'Hey sis. I Know that who ever holds your heart is too good for you, I mean he has your heart. He has to be good. Make sure that anything that he does wrong to you laugh at it. Show him who is bigger and better. Then tell me and I'll gut the bastard like the swine he is. ~Will you marry me now? Jhonny Godfrey.'_ Snake Eyes took a sip of tea buy lifting the mask up a bit. When he looked at her she explained what the saying meant. "He was telling me that I am too good for any one and if they have my heart they are so much better, because they have my love. And if he ever hurt me in any way Jhonny was saying that he would be there to protect me, he always laughed and it had rubbed off on me a bit. And him asking me to marry him is something that we share. If either of us were to be truly down we'd talk about this. It had been a funny thing. And cheered us up. What about you? Is there a story about someone close to you?" Snake Eyes nearly dropped his tea. She had asked him. She hadn't had any reason to but she wanted to know about him. Snake Eyes nodded and raised two fingers. Avery yawned and Snake Eyes realized another thing.

Avery was dead tired yet she had still asked him. Something that no one had done before when they were perfectly fine. She had showed and interest in him and it was for no other reason then to get to know him. "Tell me about one of them. We can finish the other tomorrow." Shaking his head, Snake Eyes let her know that he would tell her of one of them tomorrow but not tonight. Tonight she was to go to sleep. "But, I want to know. I'll go to sleep later. Come on, tell me one of them. At least who they were." Thinking about this he nodded. He would tell her about Hard Masters kindness. It took longer than he had thought and by the time he was done telling her all about the hard master her head was sitting on the table and her eyes started to droop. "Mmm, I can't wait to hear his story. He seems like someone I'd like. Although I get the feeling that something happened to him. I do hope that you will trust me enough to tell me. And there is no need to worry about me telling anyone, that is if you don't want it told." Her eyes closed once more and her breathing slowed down.

Snake Eyes felt like he had never before felt. And he wanted to ask someone about it. He knew exactly who to ask but first he had something else to do. Removing his shoes he lifted Avery into his arms and carried her to the room across from his. When he got to the bed he knocked the bag out of the way and grabbed the blanket that she had left near the entrance. He covered her and realized that she had no pillow so he quickly went to his room and grabbed his, he had an extra one in his closet that he would later grab. Once he had her head on the pillow he went to find Scarlet. She was like a sister to him and he needed to know what was going on to him.


	10. Scarlet's Advice, New Rules Of The Deal

**I am on this one again cause the other two are both at ten. I gotta put this one at ten too. I felt bad for making Scarlet the bad person in Rust Angel, (She will stay that way in that sorry :D) Also to Chawmoy-bot (let me know if I got it wrong) although this review was in Rust Angel I have to answer it cause I laughed so hard when I read it. Yes. I love beating her up. Especially when I can make Snake Eyes come to her rescue, or make fun of a cannon character that I sort of don't like. i.e. Scarlet because there are too many Se/S fanfics ;)**

Snake Eyes hesitantly knocked on Scarlet's door. "Coming!" She yelled and he heard shuffling. Ripcord was most likely with her. And sure enough when Scarlet answered the door a shirtless Ripcord was be hind her. Quickly he asked Scarlet if they could speak, in private. "Rip, out. I'll find you when we finish talking." Ripcord grumbled and left as Snake Eyes entered. "What is it Snakes?" He signed to her saying that they needed to talk. "About what?"

He looked to the side as he told her how he felt about Avery. Of course he didn't say who it was. What he expected was squealing and jumping around from Scarlet, ever since she had met Rip she had become more emotional and hyper. "Snake Eyes, you know I love Rip." He blinked in shock then he laughed out loud. She had thought he meant her because he chose to speak to her. "S-Snake Eyes?" Quickly he signed to her, letting her know it was someone else. When he finally stopped laughing Scarlet was smiling softly at him. "Tell about her a bit will you? I know how you feel but I know nothing about her." And he did. He told of Avery's devotion, love of those close to her, and her skills. About how she spoke and listened. Scarlet was told about how most of her emotions were in her eyes but when she had spoke to him about Jhonny and had listened about Hard Master she had had facial expressions. The only slip up about who she was was the name Jhonny.

"It think, you might be in love with Avery." Blushing under his mask he tried to make Scarlet think it wasn't Avery with out out right lying. "Who else do we know that knows a dead _Jhonny_." And there he realized his mistake and his head fell in shame. "Aw Snakes. I won't tell anyone. Not even her. But you will have to tell her sooner or later." Snake Eyes let her know one of the problems. "Oh, wow. Well it was like that with Ripcord and me. I didn't know as much about him as you know about Avery when I started to fall in love. All it took was him being kind to me when I needed it. At first he had only wanted to get at me but now look at us. Close to three years I believe. You needed someone to listen to you and she did." Scarlet spoke the wisdom he needed to hear.

"I hope everything works out. Just make subtle movements towards her to get her to notice you. It seems she needs someone like you. I mean look at how her life has been; her best friend and brother die a year ago then she is taken here and forced to bow to an evil man." Snake Eyes looked at her in shock. Blushing her self Scarlet told Snake Eyes how she knew about Webster. "I walked in when Snake Eyes and Breaker were revoking him of being a Joe. Also I think you get her to write to her mother. Or ask about her. I think Avery holds her in high respect. You saw the way she reacted when Breaker said that Sara hadn't mattered."

Snake Eyes stood and bowed to Scarlet, letting her know just how thankful he was to her. Then he signed to her and let her know that he would get Ripcord for her. "Thank you Snake Eyes. And it is good to hear your laugh. Maybe I will be lucky enough to hear it a second time. Also do you think that tomorrow you could formally introduce Avery? I'd like to meet her myself." Snake Eyes left with a nod and headed to the rec. room to find Ripcord. He signed to the dark colored man.

"I still don't understand that. But if you are hear I'm guessing Scarlet is alone and that is why you are here." Snake eyes nodded and watched as Ripcord passed the X-Box remote to Duke then jumped over the back of the couch. "See ya." He said and left. Snake Eyes then signed to Duke.

Groaning Duke replied. "She's pissed at me. I didn't do anything and she's pissed. I'm a bit afraid to-" Snake Eyes quickly signed a word of advice to him. "Really? You think? Won't see just be more mad if I try to go bad to her?" Shaking his head Snake Eyes told him what he thought. He was always giving advice like this to Ripcord, although those times it is normally written down. "So you think all she wants is a hug from me and to tell her I love her? Why?" Snake Eyes let him in on a bit more advice before Duke too jumped over the back of the couch and raced to Anna. He had told Duke that she was upset about him in someway and wanted reassurance but his leaving hadn't helped her.

"Since when did you become the love guru?" Breaker asked as he passed the remote to Heavy-Duty. And Snake Eyes told then about how Ripcord keeps coming to him for help with Scarlet. "Why you though?" He let them know how close he and Scarlet were. "Do you love her?" Breaker asked and Snake eyes wanted to laugh again. He shook his head no and told his friend that there was someone else that he liked, a lot. "Oh." Breaker paused the game to look at him and Heavy-Duty looked at him too. They both seemed to be in shock. "You should let Scarlet know, she thinks that you like her." Was all Breaker could think to say. Snake Eyes let them know that he had and was about to leave when Heavy-Duty spoke.

"You can't be leaving now. Not after telling us about such a thing. We're your best friends, well male friends. Come on tell us a bit about her." Breaker saved the game and shut it off. Snake Eyes sat down and thought. This wasn't like him, to tell everyone how he felt. Then an idea popped into his head, he would make a deal with them. If the didn't agree then he wouldn't tell them.

When the deal was put out into the air Breaker spoke first. "Of course we'll help you get with her. Who is she?" And Snake Eyes told them. Both he and Breaker were taken aback when Heavy-Duty started to curse violently.

"There may be a small problem with that. There's this deal with me and Hawk you see. We'll to be truthfull-" And he told them. If Snake Eyes and her did become lovers then he wouldn't be allowed to be in the vote for her to stay or leave. The other day Heavy-Duty and the General had bartered over the medic. And several hours ago some of the conditions changed. It was now that the majority of Alpha Team had to vote her in. If it was a tie then there would be another month of debate. And if Snake Eyes was out then it was six people allowed to vote. That included Heavy-Duty. "And if in two months it is a tie Stone breaks the tie."


	11. I tripped

**I really don't want to do this one right now but if I don't i'll be behind. Sighs. It's not that I don't like this story it's just that I don't know which turn to take. If this story goes wrong again it is because of this chapter, maybe. And I love _musicismyhero_, she is effing awesome. Read her G.I. Story 3. This chapter is dedicated to her because if not for distracting me with her dedicated chapter this would not have been possible. And I love the 'genital' in her chapter 6. lmao**

Avery had woke up and realized that she had somehow gotten to her room. Sitting up she groaned at the amount of light entering the room. "What the hell?" She whispered. "Why is it so bright? It's like the sun is out, but we're under the fucking ground for God's sake." Then she collapsed backwards and a new sent filled her nose. The tea, Avery could smell Snake Eyes' tea. And then another thought dawned on her and she whispered it allowed. "I don't have a _pillow_. Where-oh." Breathing in again Avery savored the sent that she assumed was Snake Eyes'. It was hard to think of what he smelt like exactly but it had a bit of spice to it, or so she assumed. Cinnamon, Avery realized. He smelt mainly of cinnamon. A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts.

Slowly Avery stood and grumbled as they knocked again. "Hello?" Avery opened the door and saw a woman with flaming red hair. She had an innocent looking face, although Avery knew that was quite very wrong. "I saw you yesterday, at my briefing." A yawn escaped Avery. "You are on Alpha Team. What's the name?"

"I'm Scarlet, a friend of Snake Eyes. Would you like to come with me today?" It took Avery a moment to comprehend what Scarlet was asking. Leaning against the door she watched Scarlet for a moment. And then she shrugged. "Really? Just like that? No questions? No 'let me think a bit'? Nothing? Just a shrug." Scarlet couldn't believe it. How could Snake Eyes like a girl that was like this. Last night he had made her seem like oh so much more. He had explained about her in detain, especially ho her eye- Her eyes! Scarlet looked directly in Avery's eyes. And true was Snake Eyes' word, excitement brewed. "I'm sorry. To be truthful, I wasn't expecting to get a yes. No one really likes to hang out in the base unless it is with a group of people. Again sorry."

"Eh? Whatever. If you want to come in, be my guest. Just no shoes." Avery turned around and tripped on the step. "Ah! Bitch!" When she had tripped her hands had automatically reached out to catch herself and only too late did she remember the burn. Turning on to her back she clutched her hand to her chest. Snake Eyes had appeared at the door behind Scarlet and Avery wished that she had held her tongue. Within moments Snake Eyes had her lifted into his arms and was heading to her bed. "I'm fine. It's just that putting pressure on the hand wasn't a good idea." She said through gritted teeth.

"What had happened?" Scarlet asked Avery, and before Avery could Answer Snake Eyes told Scarlet what had happened. "A burn? How bad is it?" Instead of answering Avery unwrapped her hand and grimaced at how it looked. Some of the blisters had gotten better while others had cracked and puss was slowly dripping out. "Oh god." Scarlet looked pale and before Avery could help it she had assessed the problem and came up with a way of fixing it. She wanted so badly to tell Scarlet about what was making her look so pale but instead bit her tongue and stood. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to clean and redress my wound. With it open like this it will be more prone to infection." Avery entered her bathroom and Snake Eyes followed to see how she would 'cleanse the wound. Sticking her hand under cool water she pushed the puss out from each open sore. When that was finished she patted it dry and went back to where Scarlet was. She had moved from standing to sitting on Avery's bed. Avery grabbed her duffle bag and stood it upright. Snake eyes opened it for her because it would require two hands. And as soon as it was open the thing right on top fell out, a first aid kit. Like his but hers seemed to be more extensive. And when she set it on the bed and opened it Snake Eyes saw that it was indeed much better than his. He saw Avery gently rubbing something onto her hand and realized that it must be something to help heal the burns. When she went to rewrap her hand he grabbed the gauze and did it for her. After he taped it off he looked at her and she nodded her approval. "So you really did listen to me yesterday." Her grin made him forget the slight annoyance at her doubt. "Thank you for wrapping it, you did a good job.

"Are you sure you are fine Avery?" Scarlet asked and when she received a nod she continued. "Do you still want to hang out today or..." Trailing off Scarlet didn't know what to say without offending Avery in anyway. If she made suggested that she should spend it with Snake Eyes, Avery might get offended and think that she really hadn't wanted to spend it together in the first place, yet if she-

"Of course, it's just a minor burn. A secondary burn. It is-" Avery cut herself off before went into a deep explanation about different burns. "Just, forget it. I would still love to spend the day with you. Although I would also like to quickly get dressed." Standing up Avery made her way to the duffle bag and reached in pulling several articles of clothes out. "I'll only be a few minutes." Picking up the clothes Avery went into the bather. And true to her word a few minutes later she came out. Snake Eyes looked her up and down. She wasn't wearing any type of Joe clothes. Dark green cargo pants and a light green tank top matched in an odd way. Under her tank top was a long sleeve fishnet shirt and her hands had fingerless gloves on them. The gloves had a red circle with a white cross in the middle of it, the sign of a medic.

Avery grabbed a pair of combat boots and shoved her feet into them then quickly tied them while sitting g on the step she had previously tripped over. "You ready?" Asked Scarlet. A nod of confirmation was her reply from Avery. "Well, we'll see you later Snake Eyes." Scarlet pulled on her shoes and left the room. Still sitting down Avery looked up at Snake Eyes who was standing over her.

"Hey, uh thanks. And I just wanted to say that I hope that I'm not pressuring you into telling me about your past." She gave him a small smile that to anyone would look just like any other smile, but to him it was a refreshing thing to see. And he would just love to wake up each morning and be greeted with that smile.


	12. The Perfect Pears

**Ok so still with the sis, who happens to be talking turkish while I understand not a word of it. She is like cokeyasha (Only turkish work I know ;) It is the equivalent as god bless you.) then a whole bunch of other words I don't know, and it's like WTF? **

Snake Eyes put a hand on Avery's head as he left and went to his own room. Then avery rushed to catch up with Scarlet. The two girls headed to the canteen and sat with the rest of Alpha Team. Avery knew none of their names, asides from Breakers that is, so Scarlet was going to introduce each of them when a guy cut in. "Hey, you're Avery right? The one from the other day?" Avery nodded, showing that he was right, and waited for him to introduce himself. After a minute he didn't and Avery asked.

"So just who are you people?" Immediately the guy went off pointed to people and explaining what the did. And what had amazed Avery was that even through every description of each tiny thing, he never once mentioned a name. Not his own or any one else's. "Uh, I think names would help a bit more than knowing what they do." Avery cut him off just as he was about to speak about how he 'owned' at a game they played. He hadn't even mentioned the name of the game.

He was speechless. Then someone else cut in by hitting him on the head. "Come on Rip, the girl asked a simple question." The man then looked to her. "That idiot is Ripcord." Ripcord shouted at him that he was not an 'idiot' but the man ignored him and continued on. "I'm Duke, and this," He pulled a woman towards him. "Is my fiancé, Anna. There," Duke pointed across from himself at Breaker. "Is Breaker and next to him is-."

"Heavy-Duty" That was the big dark colored man. He took it upon himself to introduce himself. And Avery wasn't sure if he had meant to or not, but he came off as a bit rude. At first she had just thought it was herself but then Breaker sent a quick glare at the man and went back to eating his breakfast. "Excuse me." He stood up and walked out of the room and this made avery amused. There were just some people that couldn't stand her for no reason and she knew that she would be hanging around that man a lot.

"Anyway, what's on the agenda Scarlet?" Avery looked at the food that was in front of everyone and wanted to get her own food but knew that it would be rude. Yet her stomach had other ideas and grumbled angrily. Duke laughed at her and took the pear from his plate and tossed it to her. "Thanks, Duke?" He nodded at the name and Avery was glad that she had gotten it correct.

"We'll I hadn't really though that far ahead. But if you want we could just hang out." Avery furrowed her eyes. She didn't know how to 'hang out'. In truth she hadn't been that popular in school. Being the freak wasn't a social thing. And when studying one didn't really converse with others. But this was a new place and she figured that to 'hang' would be a good idea so she nodded and bit into the pear. "Alright. I'm to get actual food, would you like anything?" And Avery shook her head no to Scarlet's question.

Slowly Avery bit into the pear and thought of how it tasted. Sweetly bitter with a bit of sour if thought deeply about. And the texture was like biting into sand paper almost, but with flavor. It wasn't like a grape fruit where it was too bitter without sugar, or a granny smith apple at its peak with all of the sourness, nor was it like the orange with it's juicy sweetness that dripped down ones chin. And it had a rough texture that made it taste all the better. Avery swallowed the chewed piece of pear then took another bite. "What is it about the pear that has you eating it so slowly?" Breaker asked as he watched Avery take a third bit. She held up a finger and quickly chewed and swallowed this time.

"It's nothing. Just thinking." She took another slow bit, but this one was on purpose and she winked at Breaker. Scarlet returned just then and sat across from Avery. She saw that Avery was almost halfway finished and quickly ate. "Take your time Scarlet. I'm in no rush." Avery's advice was ignored as Scarlet continued to quickly eat. "Or not, yeah. Just eat all that food too fast. That way you will get heart burn. And oh the joys of that pain."

"How will eating fast give me heart burn?" Avery shook her head and didn't say another word as she watched Scarlet scuff her food down. A slight smirk played on Avery's lips. And a moment late Scarlet knew that Avery was right, she knew it by the pain. The burning sensation came quickly and Scarlet no longer had an appetite. "How did- Oh, right medic." A soft noise left her and Avery laughed. When Scarlet was no longer in pain the girls 'hung out' by training with each other.

It was better than Avery had though, because she knew how to do this unlike bonding the normal way women did. As they had fought a mock battle they had conversed as if they weren't trying to knock the other down but as one would speak of weather. And then the winds had shifted from Avery's mother and 'brother' to Snake Eyes. This was when many things happened simultaneously, Avery's step faltered, Scarlet saw and realized that Avery was starting to grow feelings for Snake Eyes- maybe not as fast or as strong as his had become in the short time but they would be there soon-, the two girls' wooden swords clashed, and Avery was knocked to the ground. Scarlet had apparently been holding back the whole fight.


	13. Hot In Here

**I give everyone permission to hate me now. I have a fourth, currently working on, Se/Ave story. It won't be posted until I finish these three. Or unless it finishes first then I'll post the entire completed Mur-er not going to release the title until it is posted. If any one want's a sneak peak, PM me and I'll send the summary to you. ;) **

The days had passed quite fast and Avery's mood had dramatically changed. Not that anyone but Scarlet or Snake Eyes could tell though. Her hand was fully healed with just being a bit pink and most of the time Avery hid in her room. This confused Snake Eyes and when he talked to Scarlet she was just as confused. So now Scarlet was knocking on Avery's door. She was there to ask Avery why she was avoiding a certain ninja. When no reply came Scarlet opened the door and entered. "Avery? Are you ok?"

"I'm sorry if I had you worried." Avery grinned at Scarlet and she was taken aback. "Shoes off. Come here, I'd like to talk to you for a minute." This had Scarlet worrying. Avery had been avoiding Snake Eyes for the past two days and has left the moment she saw Scarlet. Like he hadn't wanted to see either of them. "I got a reply from my mother. I sent a letter to her three days ago." This solved a bit of the mystery, not really. It meant that the letter that Avery had in her hand was the reason that she had been trying not to see either Scarlet or their ninja. "Come, sit." Avery patted the bed by her side.

She handed Scarlet a scan of a letter, the one she had originally sent to her mother. Scarlet greedily read it:

_Dear mother,_

_I know it has been a while since I last sent you a letter. Do forgive me but I had nothing good to tell you and you know how I hate to send bad news. But now everything has changed. I am on a new team, the best of the best, and I have started up medicine again. The pathetic thing is, get this, the first person I used my training on was myself. Ha! Burned my hand I did. That is why it took an extra several days for me to let you know. I like this new team especially our teams ninja, but you'll hear about him in a minute._

Scarlet stopped and looked at Avery. "Why does this have to do with you avoiding us?" Avery pointed to the letter and Scarlet got her drift.

_Clarets (Hint: Color that starts with S.) is __who I want to tell you about first. She is so different, but in a good way. And her boyfriend Picdorr (Hint: Yeah it doesn't matter his real name) is so hilarious. I fear that if we become close and I become close with our ninja (Who is like her brother, by soul, like me and Nnhjoy) that there will be rift in our friendship. Which bring up my first question. You know how I am, so should I ask her first or him? The ninja, not Pic. And now that brings up a second question do you think that with how I have become, that either of them like me? Don't worry about answering for the ninja yet, when I get to him you may. You know how I hide behind my expressionless face, do you think she can see the real me or what?_

"The names? Who is who? I don't-" Avery blushed and pointed to the paper. "Fine."

_And ma, Wakh (Hint: Really?) says hi. Lol. I don't like 'lol' seems false but anyway. He wants to know why you didn't immediately tell him. He know that I wasn't telling the full truth when I told him you wanted to say it to his face. But me and him get along ok I guess. I mean he isn't like how I pictured father to be, but then again I am twenty and he never knew me as a little girl. And yes I am procrastinating telling you about the ninja. But Wahk wants to speak with you so he wants to fly out there for a bit. But only if you want him to that is. Let me know so I can let him know._

_And now about-wait one more thing, can you send me my X-Box games? Uh where was I oh! Ninja, got it. His name is, now don't laugh (Although you are going to anyway), Sneak Yess (Hint: Feared amphibians body part). Seriously. That's his name. And I- I think I may have fallen in love with him. Before you try to chastise me about being too fast, let me tell you about him. He is kind, warm hearted, if anyone of his friends needs his help he would willingly put his life on the line. The ninja is a good listener and loves anyone close to him like family. Now here are some of the things that make him, him. Yet you wouldn't like. He never uncovers his face. But he has the most brilliant of tea. (Is the distraction working? *My special and own smile*) He is also mute, and those are the two things you wouldn't like. (But seriously, if you ever come here; you have to try his tea.) And now for my questions that only a mother as awesome as you could answer (Is my ass kissing still good? *wink*) Should I tell him? Could he possible share my feelings? Will he be able to see past my mask? But is it possible he could ever love me as I believe I love him._

_Con amore Rayev._

"The name's," Avery started. "Are anagrams. But I think you know every one that I am talking about." Scarlet nodded. Just as she was about to ask what this had to do with her ignoring them for the past several days Avery held another letter up. "I wanted her answer before I confronted either of you."

_Dear Ms.-I-like-to-spite-my-mother-with-those-stupid-name-things-I-do,_

_First I don't think that there will become a rift (You worry too much, leave that to me. The elderly) I think that because you believe the way you do, yes. Ask her first. If you are friend of course she likes you. And the damned face, I hate it. Be you. But, again, if you are friends then there is the answer._

_Tell him he may fly out here._

_This section (Not about the games, I sent them) is all up to you. Tell him, don't tell him, either way you have to make the choice. It is possible but I don't know how he feels about you. Maybe; maybe not, like I said I hate that mask. It is always possible to have someone love you, that doesn't mean they do, nor does it mean they don't._

Scarlet put the letter down and looked at Avery, the rest was probably just mother daughter stuff. Or about the letter that Avery had sent, either way it no longer mattered to Scarlet. "I- uh- about- Snakes-um because- uh." Avery stuttered over her words and was quite nervous. Scarlet gave her a soft look and Avery spat her question out. "Would you mind if I asked Snake Eyes out?" Scarlet gave a small laugh before nodding. And she could see most of the stress melt away from Avery. In a small voice she asked Scarlet, "Do you think he like me too?"

"Go ask him out and you will see." Avery started to fidget and Scarlet asked her another question. "How many guys have you been with?" Scarlet's question made Avery fidget more. Counting on her hand she came up with four then another question came to mind.

"Define 'been with'. Because if you mean a kiss or whatever it's like around four, but if mean been _with with_, cause then none." A blush crossed Avery's cheeks as she revealed her maiden status. Scarlet grinned at Avery and she realized that it was the former of the two that Scarlet had wanted to know. But Avery guessed that Scarlet was glad to hear that if Snake Eyes and her did do _something_, it would mean a lot more to them than most.

"You are so old school Avery, but that is cool. Go talk to him, he should be in his room." Then Scarlet pushed Avery out the door and over to Snake Eyes' door. Both girls were bare foot. And as soon as the two were in front of the door Avery started to chicken out. "Hey, too late." Then Scarlet knocked quite loudly on the door. Once she finished that she ran back to Avery room and Avery was sure that her door was now locked. Snake Eyes opened the door and looked at Avery curiously. His head was turned slightly to the side and she could easily see his beautiful blue eyes. For a moment she was lost in then then Scarlet opened Avery door and threw something at Avery. Avery glared at her and she glared back, then she reclosed the door.

"M-may I speak to you in-inside?" A little part of Avery had hoped that he wouldn't open the door further, but a a much bigger part did. And as soon as the door was opened the bigger part shrunk into oblivion from fear. Slowly she entered and as soon as she was fully in the door Snake Eyes closed and locked behind her. "Oh god." Avery whispered in fear. Snake Eyes stood in front of her now and he seemed to be a bit angry. He signed quickly and she caught ever word then without letting him finish she asked. "W-would you like to be-be my-my uh-my..." Avery couldn't do it. She couldn't finish. But she had no need to because Snake Eyes got her point and softly kissed her through his mask.

After a moment she relaxed a bit and gently kissed him back. He knew that she was still tense so he asked her to sit with him. When the were both sitting he asked her about the last couple of days. Her answer was that she had written to her mother and needed her mothers reply before anything else was to happen. Even though he didn't really under stand, Snake Eyes nodded. Avery was still quite tense and he didn't know how to help her. The only thing he could think of was what he decided to do. He lifted his cloth mask up to right above his lips and kissed her again. She got more tense at first then immediately started to relax.

The kiss started off gently but when she kissed back it became rougher. As soon as he let his tongue run along her bottom lips she once more tensed. "I-I'm sorry I have go. I just remembered that I have to give Hawk his reply." She rushed out of his room and just dodged Scarlet. Scarlet went over the Snake Eyes room and saw him sitting on his bed with his eyes closed.

"Hey, give her some time. Why did you do to make her run off so fast?" Snake Eyes was blushing but Scarlet couldn't see it. He let her know. "Ok, so was it only a small peck, a full out make out or what?" Scarlet fully entered and closed the door. When she was his answer she gave a small laugh of understanding. "She probably didn't know what to do." A snort from Snake Eyes made Scarlet continue. "No, really. You're the fifth person she has uh dated I guess. Or actually she said she had only kissed four people. I'm not really sure if she has dated anyone. And with her reaction to the kiss I think that you are the first."

When his eyebrows came together Scarlet could see it. Then he asked a personal question about Avery. "None. I mean, uh how do I say this? Um well she's a virgin." Scarlet could see the shock in Snake Eyes' eyes.


	14. Utterly Embarrased

**How this for ungodly short as a chapter! wait, wrong story. Oh well they probably read this one too. So :P :) **

Chapter Fourteen: Utter Embarrassment

A light knock on her door woke her the next morning. She'd fallen quickly to sleep but that hadn't meant that it was restful. Or rather, she didn't know how to explain it. Getting out of bed she took her clothes out of the duffel bag and started to get dressed. Snake Eyes had invited her to come to one of his training sessions and she's said she'd be there this morning. Meaning now.

He'd been the one to knock, he'd been the one that had kept her from a restful slumber last night. After training with him and seeing how well he was about to move, well erotic dreams as hers had been were well to be expected. But, God, the things he did to her- Never had she though any of her piercings would be able to give so much pleasure because they were no where near anywhere sensitive just all of the places that he saw yesterday were where all of hers were, including the tongue piercing. Then they way he was able to move his hips- "Shit!" She screamed and dashed into her bathroom holing only a shirt to cover her bare boobs and possibly wet panties.

Had he not had his mask on he would be as Scarlet as her. So lost in thought she'd been she didn't let him know she was awake so he had entered to wake her only to find her mostly nude. After his dreams last night he hadn't been sure he'd wanted to go to his class this morning and now he realized how exquisite her body was. He'd seen it yesterday but then he started to battle with her and hadn't thought about it again. Until now that he saw the majority of it. "You still out there?" Avery peeked her head out and saw him still there. "If you insist on being in here and waiting for me, can you toss me those pants?" She pointed to the bed where her pants were.

Already his shoes had been off, because he though he would need to go to the bedside to wake her, so he did as asked but didn't look towards her. He was embarrassed for entering without her permission. She exited the bathroom and murmured a good morning before pulling on ankle socks then grabbing her boots and dashing out of the room.

Avery ran to the canteen, thoroughly embarrassed that he had seen her like that. Even more so because of where her thoughts had been before he entered. "Good morning." Scarlet announced as she sat next to Avery. Avery mumbled a halfhearted reply. "What's wrong? Didn't you see Snake Eyes this morning?"

"She may not have seen him, but he sure saw her." Duke laughed as he sat on the other side of Avery. Her eyes widened and her lips parted, she gasped and at that moment she was the picture of pure aghast. "Yeah was walking by her room this morning and saw Snakes enter to wake her. Little did he know she was like naked." Scarlet and Anna looked at Duke in horror. Then Anna scowled and hit him.

"You looked!?" She asked in disgust. Duke suddenly paled and shook his head.

"I- I only saw her back as she ran into the bathroom! I swear, I'm not a peeping Tom or anything!" Avery hid her face in her hands and wished she'd not even tried for this position. They were a nice set of friends but her entire balance was upset.

"How can I even face him again after that?" Avery mumbled into her hands. "I'm supposed to go to that class of his in a bit and he- he saw me nearly naked!"

"Nearly?" Scarlet perked up at the word and Anna pushed Duke away ordering him to leave so the girls could talk. The word had caught her interest.

"Yeah, I'm standing there in," she glanced around and lover her voice, "my tiny yellow polka-dot thong and he walks in." She glanced around again before whispering nearly too low for the girls next to her to hear, "I wasn't thinking clean thoughts either." She once again hid her face in her hands and the two girls leaned back in shock and horror.

"He didn't see anything did he?" Avery knew that the girls were referring to any wet spots that may have seeped through and she shook her head. She told them exactly what happened. "And?" Anna asked leaning in closer.

"I'm just glad I didn't have my nipple piercing in." Avery grumbled, finally over her experience this morning. "I think they closed up though so it doesn't matter much."

"Nipple-" Anna began.

"Piercings?" Scarlet finished.

"Yeah, I like to experiment with piercings and if I don't like them I let them close up then do another one."

"What's it feel like?" Scarlet asked and Anna blushed.

"It's like a pinch when getting it done, then after it's not even there half the time unless. Um touched." Avery blushed then and she saw Scarlet contemplating it. "Though until it heals it kinda hurts to touch. So it's like a sex no no until it's healed."

"How long does it take to heal?"

"It depends on you, though mine took two weeks to be fully healed. It stopped hurting the day after but it was so weird and erotic that it hurt a bit so I took them out. Why?" Then she grinned at Scarlet, "Thinking of getting it done?" Anna shook her head.

But Scarlet, "Actually yeah. I've got a personal mission that will be two maybe three weeks so the no sex isn't the problem. Do you, um do you do it? Piercing?" Avery nodded. "When? I leave this afternoon."

"I could do it now if you want." Scarlet nodded and the two looked to Anna.

"No thank you, but do you mind if I come with you guys?"

.~:*:~.

The class was going to start in ten minutes and Snake Eyes saw the girls all leaving and heading somewhere. After two minutes passed he decided to follow them and ended up outside of Avery's room again. He knocked loudly and got no answer. But her heard shushed giggles. After another minute or two passed he heard whispering. Then "Ow! Son-of-a-bitch!" From Scarlet and Anna laughed loudly.

"I told you it'd hurt when getting it done, but only a pinch, doesn't hurt anymore, now does it? Just a slight throb like a stubbed toe. Now sit still and I'll do the other one."

"It's more like a pinch from Du- OW! God damn it! I hope you weren't exaggerating for you're own good Avery if this doesn't intensify-"

"Shh!" Someone hissed. "There's a shadow at the door, someone's out there!" Snake Eyes quickly retreated. Just what happened to Scarlet? Making it to the class room he started to stretch to relax his muscles and be ready when class started. Not long after in came the three girl with Scarlet looking slightly uncomfortable. Anna's laughter was barely concealed and Avery was beaming.

His heart fluttered watching Avery smile with pride as she was."Okay, it doesn't really hurt anymore but it's so weird and awkward, I feel like everyone can see it and knows." See what? Knows what? Snake Eyes wondered.

"You should train with your shirt on until they can be removed so no one knows." Avery suggested. Scarlet nodded and rolled her shoulders. "Stop doing that, you feel it more when you do that. Ignore it and soon you'll forget it's there. But trust me when you and Rip are together you'll love it."

Love what? Snake Eyes thought and perked. What was it!

Then the rest of his class started to file in. Halfway though Scarlet excused herself saying that she had to get ready to leave. Her face was flushed and she was cursing Avery under her breath. He caught Avery and Anna share a knowing look then continue with his class.

After the two hours passed he released everyone then caught Avery. He wanted to apologize for this morning but she seemed to have forgotten it and he didn't want to bring it up. So instead he asked her to spar with him. "Of course." She agreed more at ease today than yesterday.

Standing opposite of each other on the training mat he bowed to her and she repeated the action. It was basic training, just to have a refresher course. "So," Avery began as she rhythmically blocked a kick of his. "You sleep well?" He hesitated then nodded. "Yeah, thought so. Just realized how stupid it was of me to try and start a conversation while training and with you having no way to really reply."

They lapsed into silence again but it was more comfortable now. They were almost finished when Ripcord ran in and called to Avery. "Scarlet got her-" Avery faltered and missed a block. Snake Eyes booted foot connected to her side with a sickening '_Thunk_' "Sorry!" Ripcord said once he was close enough to them.

"Let's have a little chat about why not to distract a person while they are training against a guy who's boots are at least five pounds a piece, shall we Rip?" Avery walked to the man while clutching her side. Ten feet from Snake Eyes, out of hearing distance and facing away from his so he couldn't read her lips, she said, "and I'm sure Scarlet wouldn't be too pleased if you announced to the entire base that she pierced her nipples. I'm sure she would be livid. Now be a good boy and fetch me some ice."

Rip nodded and ran off to do just that. Snake Eyes walked up to her with a bottle of water and an apology. Avery removed her shirt and hissed as eh put the bottle to the spot that was going to become a nasty bruise. After a few moments she had him hold the bottle as she poked and podded her now purplish side. "Nothing seems to be broken, just majorly irritated." She took the water back and held it to her side again. "Just kinda glad it wasn't any lower or I would be in serious pain. I've had my piercings kicked before and it hurt, then factoring the weight of your shoes and your strength it would be murder."

Rip came over again handing her a large ice bag from the infirmary. "Doc said to stay the fuck away, heal yourself and stop taking all of his- things." He waved at the ice pack. Avery just rolled her eyes and shooed him off before replacing the water with the ice pack.

"Doc thinks that I use too much of his supplies and should be more careful. "I'll have to stop in and apologize for not showing up for my weekly visits anymore." She grinned at Snakes and the joke went over his head. Weekly visits?

**A/N Is this better? Longer? Harder? More Erect? Wait no that is a- How did you like this chapter?**


	15. Saving Private- Nah, Just Her Friends

**It is only four and I'm like dead tired. I woke at 12... Ok I know that there hasn't been much medical stuff but come on, I'm only sixteen (just about 17) there will be some soon but right now I am torturing Avery and Snake Eyes with unattended to lust. Well it's attended to but no sex, yet. ;) wait for several weeks to have past :P I'm a complete bitch to Avery aren't I? Dear god, I started this when I was sixteen?! I'M 18 NOW! Oh as I work on this ch I must make note of how sleep deprived I am. Had no sleep last night and it's now 606 am**

Chapter Fifteen:

"Hey, Doc." Avery called cheerily and waved as she entered the office. "Need any help?" Doc turned to her and eyes her warily. "No, I'm not in any way shape or form injured or sick. I just came because Alpha Team's lacking any missions meaning my life has become tedious. So I humbly offer up any service I can offer to make this process of caring for the sick any easier upon you while it make my life entertaining." She bowed deeply with sarcasm even in her movements. "I am but your humble servant for the day."

"No." Doc said forsaking her entire speech and turning back to his computer.

"Oh come on, Doc! Please! I've even taken to training nearly twenty-four seven. I only stop to take in nutrients, piss and sleep. It's so boring. I ache for something else, something new! If I have to sit here any longer I'll return to grunt work." Jumping up onto his desk she sat on a nice pile of papers that he had been eying awhile typing. "Oh, I'm sorry," She said when he seemed to growl at her. "Were you using these or something? I'm just so _sick_ of doing nothing that I need you to cure me."

"Fine!" He yelled at her and she got off of his papers for him. "There's been a collapse of part of the building and several people are still missing. You as a medic and field operative should be able to handle at least digging up bodies."

Looking forlorn she nodded. "You should have came to me before. You know your medics are better put to use here and those grunts have other things to do than work there."

"Yeah well Erik is there. He's as good as you if not better." Doc held himself up pridefully. "Trained him myself."

"Ginger?" She perked up and looked him. "Mr. Ginger is there? Ah good times with him. Beating him and getting this painfully boring spot on Alpha team and all." She grinned at Doc and the man became flustered. HE must have forgotten about that. "Anyway which team was put on grunt work there?"

"The only team with nothing to do making their lives very... tedious." Doc smirked at her wide eyed gawping expression. "Seems that Alpha team doesn't need a medic, even for such menial work." He teased. He had become very much like a family member. Or rather that friend that was close enough to be family yet if they were she'd hate him.

"Well I'd best be going to make their lives more stimulating." She left the office slamming the door behind her.

.~:*:~.

"I- I don't know." An Irish accented voice sputtered out as a man lay in front of him dying. "He's not breathing, I don't know what to do!" Panic entered his voice and Alpha team stood bye.

Suddenly a pen was slammed down into the man's throat and a melodic voice said with sardonic humor, "Oh come on now, even a six year old could do this. How about you take a break there Ginger and let us with the big boy diapers do the heavy lifting. All you gotta do is hold this here pen, just like this, and he'll live." Erik looked up in shock as the Alpha team's medic sat on the poor mans legs. "Good thing here this man's wind pipe was crushed and not his legs, eh?"

"Avery!" Erik holler in shock. He'd been told that Alpha Teams medic was resting from a nasty fight two days ago. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"And leave all of this joyous fun to you, hell no. Besides who killed me and you my doctor?" She patted his unruly red lock then took his hand and made him hold the pen. "Now remember, that moves even a fraction of an inch, and you just killed this guy." Giving him two thumbs up and a wide false grin in a mocking manner she stood up and went to leave.

"Wait, what?" Erik called but she didn't reply and soon enough he was holding the pen afraid to do anything.

Avery chuckled to herself as she walked away, it wasn't right to act like that to him but they'd already tried to replace her! Her hands clenched into fists and she breathed deeply. Anger would not control her.

As she made her way into the collapse further and further she didn't notice her team at all yet many of injured men left to sit in pain. To say it took her a while to make it anywhere near the worst of the collapse was an understatement. Two hours and forty-seven minutes later she saw Duke. "Nice of you all to invite me to this large old party." She called out and spread her arms wide. Duke looked at her with watery eyes and all humor left her. "What happened?"

"Anna, she's under there, Rip and Snakes too." Avery looked at all of the inter wound boards and noticed that if one was removed the rest would fall, if one fell they all did. "Ash," He nodded to a man Avery recognized as a Carpenter. "He said that it'll collapse if we dig or anything. They're old weak and rotted. It couldn't even hold a hundred pounds!" His tears fell faster. "I love her yet-"

"A hundred you say?" Avery asked then she took in a breath and made the sign of the cross upon her torso. "I've never been one to believe in God or anything, but if he's there may he help us." She looked around and tried to figure something out. "If it could have held lets say you, how would you have been able to get them out?"

"They'd put heavy steal bars in up there so that we could drop rope down but the only hole big enough for any of them to fit though is there, too far to toss into and we cant just walk over there and drop it down." Avery walked over to look at the ropes, she pointed acting like she was surprised at the ropes. Three of them to drop down to each person. Duke nodded. "They're too far away to be able to hear us so I can't speak to Anna."

"You'd lost her, what, twice now?" He nodded. "Well let's not try for a third, huh?" He just sniffed. "Ya know, these bored can hold ninety-one pounds?" Avery held onto the three ropes and she walked across. "Cause I'm like eight -six or so and these ropes are about five each, they fat rope." She laughed as she nimbly walked quickly across the bored with the ropes in hand. "Good thing I'd trained so much this passed week, lost five pounds ya know."

"Avery!" Duke called but she ignored his pleas for her to return unto she nearly lost her concentration and fell. "They'll find a way please just come back."

"They won't find it in time. By then it could collapse. You want her to become your wife or not?" Duke nodded. "Then shut the fuck up and let me do what I was trained to do." Finally she reached the hole and saw a light. "Yo?" She called down and the light shined at her.

"Avery!" Anna called. "How? We thought that it couldn't hold people."

"Yeah well unlike everyone else I'm not fat. Plus no one's noticed me besides Duke yet. How's everyone?"

"I'm fine and so is Snake Eyes but Rip, we don't know. Something stabbed him and-" She hesitated and Avery looked to Duke. "He's bleeding, really bad."

Alright I'm throwing ropes down, You and Snakes come up, but don't touch the floor. My skinny ass is only eight-six pounds and it moaning and groaning." She tossed down the ropes and got onto one. She called out to Duke, "Duke! Toss my bag and toss it high." He did as told and she caught it. "Hey, don't look so glum, I'm here so everything will be alright. I'm a bloody angel, ya know?" She was indeed covered in blood dirt and grime. With her smile that radiated to him he gave little smile himself.

She began her decent.


	16. THE STORY GOES ON!

Chapter Sixteen: Ripcord, Life Or Death

Avery reached the ground where the three were stuck. She looked and saw that Snakes' was lightly bleeding but nothing to worry about when she saw Rip. "I need you two to go up. Trust me, will ya?" Anna shakily stood and waled to the ropes. "Hey, I need you to help her." Avery nodded to Anna. "She's probably in shock, if she slips or anything, we're all dead. Please, Snakes?"

He hesitated then put a hand on her shoulder and went to Anna's side to help her.

"Hey there buddy." Avery said and touched Rip's shoulder with one hand as she removed something from her bag with the other and flicked a switch.. "Can you tell me what hurts?" Her moaned and told her what she didn't want to hear. Not much hurt him. She assessed everything then opened her bag. Her hand wrapped a scalpel and then she took out a suturing needle and thread. "It's going to hurt bud," She took out a rag too. "So bite down on this. I don't need you to bit off your tongue and make this any harder than it will be."

She got to work cleaning all of his wounds and digging out chunks of wood. All too soon the only thin left was the large splinter of wood going through his shoulder. Taking the rag out of his mouth she looked at him. "You want the good new or the bad?"

"G-good?"

"Good news is you're almost outta here." In the dim light from the flashlight hung over head she could faintly see him smile.

"A- and the b-bad?"

"I gotta remove that chunk in your arm. Though I must say Scarlet will think you mighty sexy with a scar. Once you're all good and healed you'll be able to show her how much fun those piercings of her are." He laughed at that then Avery replace the rag in his mouth. But he spit it out.

"I'm not going to make it, am I?" He asked. Her hand hit his face with a sound Smack!

"Hey, If you're well enough for me to slap you, you're well enough to survive." Her tone was dry and he smiled.

"You're an angel. A god sent angel." Then she replaced the rag and gripped the wood.

"Rip, this will be the most excruciating pain you'll ever feel. If it was me and I had a penis, then I had the choice of this being removed from my arm or my penis being chopped off, I'd choose to loose the dick." Then she tore it out. She'd already checked it and made sure that by removing it nothing would be torn too badly.

The wood was out and in seconds she was cleaning the front and stitching. Then the back. Halfway though the back he passed out and that caused her some worry. But stitching it had slowed the blood a lot. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she reached over and grabbed the tool she'd turned on before. She pressed it to his shoulder and the smell of burning skin nearly made her wretch. But she held it on and waited for the skin to be closed. The front had stopped but the back had been bleeding to heavily to avoid this.

Finally removing it she laid him down and took his pulse and then listened to his breathing. His pulse was slow but definitely there and his raged breathing kept going. Using boards and clothes she found laying around she made a make shift stretcher and tied him to it. So well were her knots that to get him off even she would need to cut through them. After bagging all of her things she tied the ropes to the stretcher. She climbed up one several feet before taking the walkie talkie hooked to her belt and speaking into it. "This is Avery the Medic of Alpha Team anyone read me?"

A very mechanical male's voice replied. "Hello Avery. Is something wrong?"

"Um, no. We're ready to be lifted out. Bring all three ropes up at the same speed." She said, not sure what was going on because of the odd voice.

"You'll be up in just a minute." Suddenly the ropes were tight and up they went. It was longer than a minute but soon enough she was holding onto the rope dangling mid air with Rip securely tied below her.

"Toss another two ropes here!" Avery called and the men did so she tied them to the stretcher and while they pulled the new ropes towards the edge of the hazard zone they released the other ones at the same rate. Effectively making a pulley system. Once at the edge Medics raced Rip to the infirmary and someone started to check her over. "I'm fine." She insisted but the medic didn't give up.

Duke suddenly crushed her in a hug and she was gasping. "Thank you." He whispered over and over.

"On second thought," She gasped out. "I may need that medic, I'm being crushed to death by a fat ass."

Snake Eyes came to her rescue and pulled Duke off of her and she gasped in gulps of air. But then Snake Eyes hugged her, his strong arms wrapped around her and though he hugged her, it wasn't strangling her. "Okay, now my bubble is being invaded and there are injured that still need help." She said and Snake Eyes held her tighter.

It was another two minutes before he let her go. He signed to her, saying that he needed to speak to her. Avery nodded but her attention was quickly taken away when someone began yelling for a medic. She bit her lip and looked at him. She wanted to speak with him but she also needed to go to the aid of the person. Snake Eyes gave her a push in the direction of the injured person and watched as she held her bag running to go to their aid. "I'm a medic, what's the problem?"

Snake Eyes turned to see that Anna and Duke had embraced and she was sobbing while holding onto him. Going over to the pair he pointed to the way that they could take to exit. Duke lifted Anna into his arms and they began to head that way. But once they reached their rooms they went different ways.

Snake Eyes entered his room and once his mask was off he hesitantly peeled away his top. Avery had done a quick look over himself and Anna and hadn't noticed anything too bad, but he'd made sure she hadn't seen his side, she had needed to tend to Ripcord first. The blood had slowed greatly yet when he used a new towel to wipe it, it continued to drip. So focused on the bleeding wound he hadn't heard his door open and close nor did he hear the quite steps coming up behind him. "You need stitches." Avery's low voice said and he turned to her. He was wide eyed and she got a good look at his face. Her hand reached up and her fingers lightly followed the scar that ran across his face. "It must have hurt a lot." He looked away from her and into the mirror that he could see in the bathroom.

She knelled and her hands touched the red area around the wound. Grabbing his hand she pulled him into the bathroom where she washed her hands and got a new towel and soaked it. Wiping away blood she got to work cleaning it and even though the blood still flowed she started to stitch it up. He noticed her hands shook every time she pulled the needle out yet when pushing it through her hands were steady. By the time she finished she used another towel to wipe the blood away and it no longer bled. Her hands and fingers were dyed red with his blood.

"I need to go shower." She said and her eyes were far off. Like she wasn't there anymore, her mind was far away while her body was forced to stay here Snake Eyes took her hands and brought her over to the shower. He turned the water on and tugged her under the spray with him. Still clothed it took a few moments but soon enough they were both soaked. The red stain of blood had washed from him easier and faster due to it having only been his blood.

Avery on the other hand, well her orange hair hid the red dye well until the water ran in red rivers from it. Removing his gloves Snake Eyes forced Avery to lean her head back. Some life returned to her and she seemed to watch him curiously. Then his shampoo, made by his own hands, was poured onto her head. She flinched due to the cool sensation but closed her eyes and relaxed into his hands as he massaged the soap through her hair. Then when he finished rinsing any trace of soap or blood from her hair he tangled his hands in her locks and kissed her.

Her mouth was open in shock and he used it to his advantage. If Scarlet had been right and she hadn't kissed anyone like this, then he was going to show her how now. After the slight scare today they both needed this. They were officially a couple but she'd avoided being alone with him for too long this passed week since their first kiss.

His mouth was locked onto hers and with his tongue in her mouth she could only follow his lead. When his tongue began to move around her mouth she hesitantly moved her tongue to touch his. Immediately his tongue stopped running over the top of her mouth and began to move over and around her own. Having taken this as a good sign she began to reciprocate. Then he pulled his tongue from her mouth and unsure of watt to do she opened her eyes. He allowed his tongue to reenter her mouth and try to coax her into following into his mouth but they were quickly running out of air.

FInally he pulled back and allowed both of them to breath. the small thread of saliva that connected them was quickly broke by the water that scalded them. Avery blinked rapidly and got out of his shower. "I have to go-" she tried to excuse herself but he grabbed her arm and was out of the shower behind her immediately. His lips pressed against hers in a less passionate way but still showing her his feelings. He was nearly sure that she wouldn't react but she put some pressure into the kiss from her side. "our clothes are both saturated, I need to go get dry ones." Saturated in more ways than one, she thought.

Then she took off out of her room the the hers across the hall. Snake Eyes had heard his door slam shut, an accident from her running and pulling it too hard, so he decided to finish striping and shower himself. What he had failed to notice about Avery was that the water had continued to run red even after all of the blood had been washed off.

Her right leg had a large gash in it from scraping across a sharp chunk of wood. The entire reason she had left the damage site was so that she could tend to it. But she had planned to it it near Snake Eyes so they could also talk and have tea. Now she sat in her bathtub nude and with a wash cloth in between her teeth. It was the distraction that his presence could provide that she had wanted. Now her mind solely focused on the pain.

It took her close to ten minutes to stitch herself up and when she was finished she threw up, glad to have been so close to her toilet. Feeling ill due to the extreme pain she forsook getting dressed and made her way to her bed where she collapsed. The only reason she managed to crawl under the covers was because she had known that someone might just walk into her room to get her. She didn't want that to happen again.

It was, luckily, Anna that had come to get her a few hours later. She had knocked softly and upon no answer entered and shook Avery awake. "How are you doing, hun?" Anna asking in a soft voice. Avery just laid there looking at her. "You missed lunch, it's going to be dinner soon."

Avery sat up holding the thin sheet to save at least some of her modesty. "Let me get dressed and I'll meet you at the canteen." Anna left and Avery had managed to pull on her under clothes and a white wife beater. "Dude!" she screeched when she caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye and turned around, "Knock!" she would have dashed into the bathroom had Snake Eyes not reacted faster than her.

He caught her before she could move and then he fell to his knees in front of her. She rolled her eyes as he examined the crusted wound on her right thigh. Avery knew that had he walked in on her like earlier he would have been out before she had known this time, but he must have caught sight of the wound and had stayed to examine it. Her stitching had been horrible. they were crooked and her skin was going to heal wrong and leave an awkward scar.

Snake Eyes was no medic, not in anyway, but he was trained enough to know how to stitch up a wound. If he was to be hurt while on a mission and was in dire need to close a wound he had the knowledge of how to do it. So he sat her on her bed and hesitated. He knew how to put stitches in, but not how to remove them. Changing plans he went though her duffle bag and handed her a pair of the loosest pants he could find. Doc was not going to be happy about his new patient. "If I refuse to put these on-"

Holding up a hand he stopped her from continuing. Seeing he had her attention he informed her that she either put the pants on, he he carried her there without them. She put the pants on.


	17. Pains

Chapter Seventeen: Painful Education

"You're horrible," Doc said as he plucked each stitch out from her skin, "I can't even stitch it myself because of this," his hand waved towards the removed stitches, "but I'm sure you know what that means." Taking a small tool off of the table next to him Doc let her look at it a moment and held at bay the laugh he wanted to produce due to her irritated groan. Snake Eyes had been told to sit in the chair in the corner, due to him refusing to leave when told, and he tilted his head.

Doc put the tool to Avery's wound and a pop and hiss of air came from it. it happened a few more times and when Doc was done he could see that her wound now had six or seven staples holding it closed. Blood leaked from her wound anew and Doc covered it in a clear ointment before wrapping it with gauze. Then Snake Eyes got over to her and handed her her pants, again. "This better not become a routine," Avery joked. As much as she enjoyed her dirty thoughts she preferred them to stay thoughts and having him walk in on her when she was close to nude did not consist of them staying as thoughts.

Snake Eyes tilted his head in thought before he realized what she was talking about and he shook his head. Silly girl, if it were to become routine she would be in his room not her own. Once her pants were on they left Doc's office and headed to the canteen. There they met up with Anna and Duke. Breaker was on line getting his food while Heavy-Duty was talking with Sargent Stone and General Hawk at one of the the other doors. The three of them seemed to be in a heated discussion, the worst was that they kept looking at Avery as they talked.

Deciding it was useless to try and figure the men out she left Snake Eyes' side to join Breaker in line for food. Though she wasn't hungry she knew that Snake Eyes wanted her to eat. She watched him in the mirror that the workers used to make sure there were no... sticky fingers. Snake Eyes left after a few minutes and headed over where the General, Sargent, and Heavy were. She took that moment and gave breaker her food and food card. "Do me a favor and get my things for me. Get yours while you're at it." Then she took off and raced out of the room.

She was headed to the medical ward where Ripcord should be. "How is he?" She asked Erik from behind, startling the poor Irish man yet again.

Had he not seen the forlorn look in her eyes as she looked through the patient window at her unconscious teammate he would have yelled at her. Instead he just said, "Doc says he'll make it. Wont wake up for a week or so but he will survive." Erik knew it had been her to do the crazy stunt that had saved three of alpha team. "He also said that while the medic who had saved him, along with the other two of Alpha Team, was the most idiotic person he could think of, the medic is a hero. Bloody brilliant with a needle and cauterizer- to have done that in the near dark was miraculous."

"Of course, whoever it was had to be. It's necessary in these conditions if you want your friends to survive." Avery replied. She didn't like taking credit even when she was the hero, "besides, it's all Rip's doing that he survived."

"How do you figure?" Erik asked. How he figured it was all her. She's risked her life to go save him, she patched him up, making sure he didn't die of blood loss or infection. Ripcord, he's just the one that got hurt. The one that was making her job hard.

"Because if he wasn't fighting to continue to live, no matter what the medic did, he would die." Avery put a hand on Erik's arm and she left. Hunger was beginning to gnaw at her. It was time to go back to her team. She left Erik standing there, once again she made him question his worth as a medic.

Avery reentered the canteen and took a seat at the table next to Breaker. She sat so silently and so nonchalantly that no one noticed. They noticed she was there but because she gave off an air that said she was supposed to be there and she had been there the entire time they over looked her. Taking from Breaker's tray what had originally been hers along with her food card he looked at her and she nodded at him in thanks then just began to eat. It was odd that he didn't think twice of it. But the way she did it made it seem like it was supposed to be that way.

So when Snake Eyes returned and didn't see her hidden between breaker and one of his large techie friends, it wasn't that surprising. He asked where she was and everyone gave him an answer of not knowing. She had disappeared right around the time he had left to speak with the trio that was coming over now. Even Breaker admitted to not knowing where she was.

"The hell do you mean?" Heavy-Duty asked as he looked at Avery with confusion written on his face. "The girl's sitting next to you." The three of Alpha Team that were sitting down all looked to Avery and then Duke shouted in shock and confusion.

"What?" Avery asked when their shock still hadn't passed. "Where else would I be?" Then she took a finishing bite of her apple, having already finished the granola bar and half of her orange juice. Standing up she tossed her garbage away and chugged the rest of her juice. "I'm still tired so I'm going to go to bed." She left the room but the table they had was close enough to the door that she could still hear them when she hesitated outside.

"It's nearly been a month so it's time to inform you about our deal," Heavy-Duty said. Deal? What deal? Avery thought. why hadn't they stopped her from leaving too if Alpha Team needed to be informed of a deal? "Do you want avery to be your medic?" Her heart skipped a beat and her breath froze. "The rest of Alpha Teams mission is ending early so we want your votes now."

"It's also clear that Snake Eyes has feelings for her so he will not be counted." Hawk informed. There was silence then Hawk said in shock, "only Duke?"

Avery's heart clenched. It was obvious she was not wanted here. So before the conversation ended she left.

Her having left before the conversation ended left her without the outcome. Anna had raised her hand too after some hesitation, due to having been in thought. "I'll speak for Scarlet and Rip here too. They would want her to stay. Scarlet and her have become quite close as friends and she did save Rip's life." Then her hand lowered, "insisting that Snake Eyes' vote wont count is also the most idiotic thing you could do too. He isn't the type to let feelings get in the way." Snake Eyes nodded and to show his vote raised his hand too.

"I still don't know her too well," Breaker said, but raised his hand, "her being able to steal Snake Eyes' heart is more than enough for me about her character. Then like Anna said, she did save Rip's life. Along with herself and Snake Eyes." His hand fell and the group looked to Heavy-Duty and Stone.

"Hey, I haven't even officially met her yet. I can't vote." That left Heavy-Duty. Reluctantly, really reluctantly, he raised his hand. But gave no reasoning.

"Then it's mostly official. She's one of us." Hawk said and he turned to leave. Before he got far Snake Eyes' hand on his shoulder stopped him from leaving. Hawk knew what this was about. " We've got three more Joes coming in tomorrow, they have a vote to. She's still got a month to make friends of them, and enemies of you."

Snake Eyes left to find Avery and inform her of this, it was time she knew. He knocked on her room door and heard a soft 'come in'. He entered and though she didn't have much in the way of possessions he still noticed that something was different. He took his shoes off and made his way over to her bed and sat next to her. She looked up at him and he could see that in her eyes there was a deep sorrow. He asked her if she had heard.

"Yeah," she admitted. Then with a deep breath she gave him a small half hearted smile, "guess I gotta find a new room, huh." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and shook his head. "But I'm not part of Alpha Team anymore."

Snake Eyes told her how Anna voted for Rip and Scarlet, got his vote to count and convinced Heavy and Breaker to vote yes. He finished with telling her the rest of the deal. How the three Joes she had yet to meet still got to to vote, after meeting her for a while. That Stone still had to vote and that if any of the alpha team that voted now changed their vote it would count.

"Who knew of this?" She finally asked after a few moments of silence and she noticed his shoulders slump, "wait," she gasped, "you knew? This entire time?"

He looked at her with pained eyes and shook his head. It took a few minutes for him to explain but he finally did. There was still hurt in her eyes as he told her he was only informed of it when he had openly admitted to liking her. She was still hurt but she also understood. He was more worried about getting her to like him then the silly deal. He hadn't really thought of the deal since that day and now. Oddly enough it was comforting that he had been more worried and focused on her than the deal.

"I'm not mad at you about this," she told him when he asked if she was upset, "I just, it's hard to figure out exactly how I feel. I guess I'm kind of happy that I'm not off yet." She leaned her weight against him and he tightened his grip on her shoulder.

Avery hid any indications of how tired she was but when she had fully relaxed against him and her breathing evened out he knew she had fallen asleep. Snake Eyes figured he'd lay her down then go back to his won room, but once she was out of his arms he felt a heaviness upon him and made the decision to stay. He removed his shirt and mask then laid next to her. Shifting her around he ended up sing the pillow and having her head on his chest as a pillow. He leaned down enough to lay a kiss on the top of her head before he let sleep take over him too.

It was in the middle of the night when Avery woke up. She knew something was wrong. Lifting a heavy hand she rested it against her forehead and could feel the fever that was there. As carefully as she could she sat up and crawled over the body that was sleeping with her. Her sick mind didn't recognize that she always slept alone.

Once out of bed she stumbled over to her bathroom and closed the door. While her mind didn't recognize that she was supposed to have slept alone it did recognize that there was another person in her room and she didn't want them coming in on her. So she locked the door.

Sitting on the toilet she held a cloth she had ran under cold water to her head and put a thermometer under her tongue. Her eyes closed and she dozed for a minute or two as her temperature was taken. The soft beep of the finished temp woke her and with squinted dilated eyes she read the temperature of 101.4 from the stick. With a grimace she peeled her pants off then undressed and left the wound bandaged. Blood had nearly soaked through so it would come off easier when soaked with water.

The icy tendrils of the shower made her shiver but she knew she had to cool her over heated body down. She watched as the bandage sagged from the wight of the water and ran red from the dried blood that held it to her skin. It took a little bit but soon the bandage fell to around her ankle. She just sat down and took the cloth that had been on her head and put it in her mouth.

Then when she was sure that she would neither make a sound or bite her tongue off she used her thumbs to push the puss that had formed in the wound out. The green fluid turned her stomach but still she kept pushing t out from her wounded thigh. When the only thing that escaped her leg was blood she turned the shower off and gout out to sit on the toilet again. Her med kit was on the edge of the sink, next to her toilet, so she opened it and took out ointment that when it dried would harden and as she healed it would flake off. But before she did that she needed to do one more thing.

So with the cloth still in her mouth she grabbed the staple tool remover and was glad that her fevered mind wasn't thinking this through. As she pinched each staple to remove it she covered the open space with the ointment. Between each staple she waited thirty seconds to let the gel settle and begin to harden then repeated.

When the wound was coated in the gel she dribbled some water on it, due to the water being what activated it. Like gorilla glue. Once again she stuck the thermometer in her mouth and took her temperature. When it beeped off the device read 100.1, better than before at least. Drying the rest of her body off she got redressed and crawled back in bed with her bedmate and instantly fell asleep.

Snake Eyes had stirred when she left but had stayed asleep. Then when she returned had nearly woke up. It was the freezing cold wet hair that rested on his bare chest that really was the icing on top of the cake. He jolted awake and his eyes shot open. He knew exactly where he was but could for the life of him figure out why her hair was not only wet but freezing cold. When he moved the hair out of her face his fingers skimmed her skin. Her flesh was heated, perhaps she had gotten up to go the the bathroom and had wet her hair to cool off?

That must be it. So he calmed down and relaxed once more. He had to admit, the cool did indeed feel nice in her hot room. Why it was so hot, he did not know.


	18. Traitor

Chapter Eighteen: Turned Traitor

Avery awoke in the morning when Snake Eyes moved her from him so that he could get out of the bed and return to his own room. He needed to shower and change before his morning class began. Once the door closed behind him Avery stumbled over to it and turned the lock. She took several slow and deep breaths because she felt nauseous. When she realized it was futile she ran to her bathroom and turned the faucet on as she violently vomited into the porcelain toilet.

It didn't take long for her stomach to settle and when it did she knew it was just left over unease from the other night. Still she shoved the thermometer under her tongue as she went over to her duffle bag and found clean clothes. just as she turned on the water and plugged the tub the thermometer beeped and taking it out she rolled her eyes. 98.9 now, better than last night but not even close to her ideal temperature. She needed to take it easy today and tomorrow.

From below her sink she drew out bubble bath and pour it in. Sure she was an adult but she enjoyed soaking until they were all gone. Then she pulled out her med kit again. due to her having knowledge in medicine hers was immensely more stocked than any normal or sane person would keep there's. Gel's and ointments for every ailment (including ones strictly for males and others for females), multiple stitching needles of various sizes along with syringes, there was a staple gun and a remover, stitches of different types. She could have been a hospital all on her own with the multitude of tools and medicines she had. But it was one specific tool she wanted now.

Taking out a gloves she pulled them on before getting syringe and needle ready. Then she dropped her pants and sat on the toilet. Looking closely at the wound she made a face. Pus had began to refill. She felt the urge to vomit again but knew that she needed to do this. The needle effortlessly entered her skin and she pulled back n the plunger and watched and the greenish yellow liquid filled the barrel. Then when it seemed only to be red blood left she removed the needle, put a cap in it, and set it to the side to dispose of after she cleaned up. Taking the gloves off she pulled on a new pair then grabbed another syringe and needle and a vial. Sticking the needle into the vial she made sure to take only two milliliters. After making sure there was no air in the barrel she stuck herself on her shoulder with the vaccine.

Once she took care of that needle too she finished undressing and got into the tub to relax. She hadn't been in there for a minute when the bathroom door flew open. She squeaked and raised her hands to show she wasn't going to fight. "Out, into the room." Reaching to the back of the toilet she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her as she stood. The man lead her to the room and when she passed her still open first aid kit she grabbed a scalpel that was on top.

"Well, well, well." A sickeningly familiar voice said, "this time you can't say no, now can you?" When Webster reached in front of her she watched him intently with a sneer on her face. He just smirked at her and reached for her towel, that's when she attacked. Her right hand swiped at him and he had lifted his own right hand to protect his face. But the force and deadly precision she had wielded her instrument with left his fingers bleeding profusely. The scalpel had sliced through the skin and muscle and for the pointer and middle fingers the ligaments too while slicing to the bone on the ring and pinkie.

He screamed in pain as his fingers dangled from his hand and the skin hung loosely from the other two. Grabbing his damaged hand and holding tightly with his good hand he ordered the Viper to kill her as he ran from the room. Avery threw the scalpel and hit her mark, his carotid artery began bleeding freely when he reached up and pulled the medical tool from it.

Not even ten seconds later his legs gave out then when the time hit the twenty second mark his body slumped. When she reached him the thirty second mark hit and his eyes rolled back. Taking the scalpel from his relaxed hand the forty second mark hit. Standing back up and turning around the forty-five second mark hit. After wiping the scalpel on the towel the fifty second mark hit and he was dead.

She dropped her towel and pulled on a pair of pants and a sports bra. Her feet slipped into her boots and she took off out of her room, medic bag over her shoulder with a scalpel in her left hand and a gun in her right. Just as she exited her room a Viper stood in front of her only to have a bullet fly into one side of his head and burst out the other. Looking to the right, where the shot came from, she saw Snake Eyes. he was dressed for battle and the dark visor of his gave a brief nod at her.

He saw her hand swing out and something fly his way. He leaned back just as her scalpel passed inches in front of him where his head had been. Looking behind him the man fell dead clutching at his throat. Snake Eyes took the tool from the mans throat and a shiver ran through him. He never did like going to the doctors.

He handed her the scalpel back and together they got ready to fight off more if they so happened to cross paths. The Vipers they did encounter all ended up the same way; dead. Together Snake Eyes and Avery formed an impenetrable team. Viper after viper they fought off, until a certain enemy showed up. Storm Shadow. His white clothes like a beacon against a dark sky. In the dreary colored base with the dark clad people and enemies he was a single entity that really stood out.

And like moths are drawn to a light, Snake Eyes was drawn to him. He focused solely on his rival. Though if it benefitted Storm Shadow then they could be allies, but it seems that during this attack they were opposing forces. Snake Eyes raced to Storm Shadow and barely managed to save a Joe. It seemed that through the mask they made eye contact and then their battle began.

Avery on the other hand was left to deal with multiple Vipers at once. Silently she cursed Snake Eyes for taking off without any sort of warning. She had only realized he had left when a weapon cut her shoulder blade. It was a small cut, a paper cut was worse, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that she knew she had her back and her back alone from now on. In any future fights she would cover both her front and back even if she had a partner covering her. Of course she would cover them too though.

She held no blame for Snake Eyes, honestly. The only thing on her mind now, beside relief that the moment her back had been open she hadn't been killed, was the battle. Seeing that she was getting closer and closer to a Joe she didn't know she kept track of him and they met back to back. Her four eleven was nothing compared to his six five or so. She was really getting tired of the tall people around here.

Her and the man shared a quick glance and then went back to fighting. though he had her back she still kept a close eye. As a viper jumped the guy in front of her she spun around so that they fell to the floor and she put a bullet in the guy's head. Having seen the attack coming she braced herself for the slice of the knife that caught her shirt. A thin line of red formed across her abdomen but she just fired the gun at him and dodged another guy.

The Joe she had saved fired at someone that had been trying to sneak up behind her and returned the favor of saving her. Once again they stood back to back but it seemed with his last shot the enemy had been defeated. No more attacked them but something tickled at avery's mind, "Above us!" She cried and they rolled away from each other just as a viper with a sword landed where they had been.

He ran off though and didn't attempt another attack. The two was instantly back to back again and they watched for anymore of Cobra's team. When they were sure no more they relaxed. "Thanks for that," he said and held his hand out for her, "they call me Roadblock."

"No problem," Avery said and took his hand, "I'm-" she hesitated. Grunts like her didn't have code names like them. but she wasn't a grunt anymore, "Avery. Alpha Teams medic." He looked at her slightly shocked and confused.

"When did we get a medic?" He asked her and she just shrugged, nearly as confused as he was. He gave a short laugh; he liked this medic that was supposedly part of Alpha Team now, "come on, we'd better regroup." He threw an arm over her shoulders and dragged her along even though he cold feel her trying to resist. His forcing her made her stumble a few times before she gave up and just concentrated on trying to keep up with him. One of his long strides were almost three of her own steps.

Snake Eyes landed in front of them and Roadblock stopped short. The only thing that had kept Avery from running into Snake Eyes, literally, was the arm that was still holding her. Snake Eyes gave a short nod to Roadblock before he grabbed Avery and held her close.

Returning the hug Avery allowed her shoulders to relax and sighed. She had been worried about him the entire time. Though that worry had been at the back of her mind due to the fight. "Now what is this?" Roadblock taunted. Avery couldn't see the hand Snake Eyes removed from her back but the single second it took for the large man to laugh she had guessed Snake Eyes had given him a single finger salute.

Pulling back from Snake Eyes she looked him over. He was no worse for the wear so she gave him a short nod and excused herself. She was a medic and this was a battle field. Not everyone could have made it through the fight as well and him and Roadblock. Even she had some battle damage. Speaking of herself she rested a hand against her forehead and she was sure her temp had risen again.

"How you doing, Duke?" She asked as Duke held a hand to his bicep. he whined at her pathetically, joking with her as his friend. She rolled her eyes and gave a small laugh as she puled his sleeve out of the way. A tiny trickle of blood leaked from the paper cut. It really was a paper cut sized injury and she slapped it. He yelled at her in shock and discomfort, "man up," she chastised, "it's a freaking paper cut."

"Yeah, well, those are the most painful injuries." From her bag she withdrew a small bandaid. She opened it and put it on. Then, for good measure, she slapped it. "Son of a bitch!" he hollered at her and she stood up and walked to another injured soldier.

Duke rubbed his arm, it hurt more now than it did before. But he learned not to joke about having n injury with her. He knew that had it been serious she would have joked back and been carful but it wasn't so she joked back violently. "Did little Dukey-wokey get a boo boo?" Someone called out to him and looking up he smiled.

"Roadblock, my man, when did you get back? Is Flint and Lady Jaye here too?" he greeted his friend and they locked hands before bumping shoulders.

"Yeah, soon as we landed they attacked. What happened here?"

"That's what I would like to know." General Hawk said with a grim look on his face. One of his eyes were turning a nasty purple color. Flanking him was Sargent Stone and the mechanic known as Cover Girl. The six of them left the large room to go to a more private location and speak of this. There had been no sign of Cobra attacking. Nothing had led to any clue as to why either. Hawk currently had Breaker going over footage of the base to see if he could figure anything out.

Other than that there was nothing they could do but wait for the techie it seemed. Their wait wasn't long. Five minutes later, ten at most, Breaker came in. "Remember back when Avery first joined Alpha Team how her commanding officer had tried to pull the silk under our feet?" Duke let his head fall to his hand and mumbled 'wool over our eyes', "well he was here. I saw him entering Avery's room this morning right after," only Snake Eyes saw Breakers eyes flash to him, "after she woke. Five minutes later he was fleeing clutching a bleeding hand then the attack started."

"Son of gun turned traitor?" Duke asked looking at Breaker who nodded.


End file.
